Water, Fan & Sword
by ATLA Scribbler
Summary: Travelling south for an ancient festival, three friends decide to camp under the stars for old times sake. However, circumstances conspire to turn what should have been a time to rest into emotionally charged headache. Can the trio work out their differences before the ceremony? Rated M for content.
1. CI - Suki's View

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter I - Suki's View**

She kicked that bag away and pulled another pillow across to rest her head against. Suki was going to make sure she was perfectly comfortable for this.

There was nothing but the sound of rustling leaves and the trickle from the stream outside. Only the hide that held the tent together sheltered her naked body from the full exposure of the rest of the world, not that it would have mattered, as far as Suki knew, there wasn't any sort of civilization for miles around.

She lay on her back, head sat up on the soft pile of cushions, staring down along her body. Bare as the day she was born, her knees risen and parted. Suki picked up her fingers from the messy bedding she lay on and trailed them up the outside of her right thigh. She took pride in her body, as the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, the redhead represented her ancient band more than anyone. Her legs were toned to their absolute prime, deliciously smooth at the touch but more than capable of providing Suki with the force and endurance required in her service.

Her hand passed over to the inside of her thigh. Suki sucked at the cold, night air. She'd never known quite how to explain it, but that transition from the outside side of her leg to the inner always had the same effect. As if an invisible tripwire were crossed, when contact was made here, the first tingles of anticipation danced down her legs to ignite some flame deep within her. Her fingers soon followed the tingles, as their tips descended down her thigh. With each inch's advance, Suki's excitement grew more intense until the base of her thumb nestled against something far more coarse than it had been trailing over previously. Their color obscured in the dim light, a patch of auburn curls sat between Suki's legs, their roughness contrasted greatly against her otherwise silken body. She kept them tamed to a strip which crested her womanhood but the Kyoshi Warrior had never considered being as bare here as the rest of her body, she quite enjoyed having some fuzz and besides, Sokka had never given her any complaints.

As her fingertips followed her thumb, they passed beneath the curls and onto Suki's soft lips. The Kyoshi Warrior exhaled in short stutters, she gave a few testing draws along her crease with her middle finger before joining it with her index digit to orbit the hood at her apex. Whatever flame had been started by the sparks of excitement from before, it was beginning to roar from inside of the redhead. Her fingertips had become coated in her own moisture and her throat hummed as she stroked her needy slit. The pleasure penetrated each part of her body, like roots taking a hold in firm land, the arousal was in her veins and external petting soon became insufficient.

Suki pressed her middle finger against the soft, damp folds and entered herself. It elicited the first sound that could have been considered a moan from her lips, more a whimper than a scream but the redhead was sure that she'd be giving her lungs a thorough workout before tonight was through. She coursed that finger back and forth between her lips, going a little deeper each time before inviting a second digit to the plunge. With two fingers inside her, Suki began to toy at her tightness with more vigor. Pushing, stretching, moaning.

Countless thousands would have given anything to see the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors like this, but tonight she wasn't the attraction, she was the audience. Framed, in Suki's view, between her risen legs were two of the finest specimens the Southern Water Tribe had to offer but more importantly, two of the dearest people in Suki's life.

They stared at each other intently, he on his back with her knelt above, both as exposed as their audience. Suki felt near invisible, there was barely any space between her and them and yet they seemed so focused on each other that the redhead might as well not have been there. Suki preferred it that way though, she'd certainly trained her boyfriend well. Every now and then, she'd invite one of her trusted Warriors to her private quarters and play the observer as her man and her comrade had their ways with each other. It had taken a long time for him to learn to take action without guilt or awkwardness but now he was adept at shutting Suki out, to allow her to watch as if she truly wasn't in their presence, as they naturally would be, without interruption. The Kyoshi Warrior had worried about his partner for this night, whether this arrangement would prove too embarrassing for her, but it seemed that some of the assurance that Sokka exuded was being instilled with a fair amount of her own determination to give her the confidence that would see tonight through.

Suki saw as their chests rose and fell in harmony, both that same alluring tone of brown that she adored. The anticipation on them was palpable. Both their bodies clearly ached for this but they did nothing more than hold deep eye contact, making absolutely sure that their partner wanted this as much as they did themselves. No matter how great this urge, it wouldn't be worth ruining the precious link they had.

It was impossible for Suki to detect but somewhere in their deep focus on one another, consent had been communicated. His palms were rested on his partner's thighs, they began to stroke slowly with encouragement when the girl began to raise her body slightly. These first signs of purposeful motions sent shivers through Suki. Though she'd appreciated seeing them as they had been, she felt as though there was much of their held gaze which was lost in translation to those not immediately involved. She could never know either of them as they did each other, she could only know them as Suki and whatever it was they could express eye-to-eye was simply too personal for her to ever truly understand.

Once she had finished her slow rise, Sokka reached for the part of himself that the girl was hovering above. Suki bit on her lower lip as she watched him grip it. Her boyfriend rarely seemed to find himself on the right side of luck, the Universe (as he described it) was always out to get him and yet here the young warrior had seemed to have struck gold. It lay flat on his toned abdomen, the sheer weight of it beyond natural suspension while Sokka was on his back. It passed over his navel and then some and when he held it, he could just about reach his digits together the whole way around. Suki was transfixed on Sokka adjusting the length to stand straight, like a great, brown pillar being erected to be part of some grand construction. The Kyoshi Warrior took note that he was utterly hairless down there, as is customary of his tribe. Oh, how she absolutely loved that about him and his partner matched him in this, each inch of her perfectly smooth, Suki had never though that the Water Tribe girl would be the type for those sorts of things, custom or not. The redhead had to hold herself from laughing at the girl's shocked expression when Sokka tapped his shaft against her, she'd clearly underestimated just how much she'd needed to lift in order to get everything underneath and soon found herself scuttling a little more to make room.

The beautiful, brown girl was above it now, her breath shortening slightly as the tip nestled softly against her opening. Their attention remained undivided from each other as she reached down for him. Fingers met to align his manhood and with a nudge, her petals parted to accept him. From Suki's vantage point, it was impossible to tell when the exact moment of penetration occurred, but she concentrated on the girl's face when she sank ever so cautiously. Suki crossed her left arm over her chest. Her touch stung against her skin, the redhead was flushed and her hands were radiating the heat that had been stoking inside her. She clenched her rosy nipple between two fingers and rolled the rest of the mound in circles with her palm. The Kyoshi Warrior flexed with her other wrist to brush her channel deeper with her fingers. She felt so fortunate to bear witness to such a precious union, all that was beautiful and wrong with it only compounded her excitement. Suki's toes curled as she watched the girl drop with agonizing slowness.

There was a sudden gasp and the Water Tribe girl's back straightened out as the invading mass must have pressed against a particularly sensitive spot. She halted her descent and instead started to pulse delicately back and forth around that depth. With each tiny jolt, another faltering whimper escaped her lips. Sokka removed his hand from the base of his shaft and held to her hips once more, not to push her down further but to steady her, she seemed to shudder with every movement. Suki did her best to absorb each detail, how her mouth hung open as his shut tight, the slight flick of her nipples with each of her little jumps and the growing sounds she made that matched them.

Without warning, she screamed. One of those little jumps had been a bit more exuberant than she anticipated and she ended up breaching herself faster than planned, causing her to fall slightly forward. She held still, fingers clenched into Sokka's front, her whole top half heaving as she regained her breath. Their eye contact was broken and she stared straight down. The sudden volume sent chills through Suki, she'd cried out like that herself before but it took a lot more simply coupling and there was still so much left of her boyfriend remaining.

When the girl got her breath back she sought his gaze once more, looking up at him.

"Sokka."

"Katara."

Suki couldn't help but think that hearing them whisper each other's names so intimately was anything but sweet. These last few days had been hard on them both and it warmed her heart to see that they'd put their differences very much behind them.

Katara smiled at her brother's response, it was as simple as could be but it told her everything she needed to know. She straightened up above him once more, flicking her long, dark brown hair behind her and resting her hands above his on her thighs. She pressed on with her hips, Suki heard the waterbender coo as she dropped inch by inch, the redhead couldn't have imagined her friend was used to something of this scale, Sokka had done a lot of growing up since he set out from the South Pole.

Katara hummed loudly as she pushed her body down, then stopped, breathing in quick bursts. She jerked her hips from side to side, as if to budge something before pressing on and giving a troubled growl. Her fingers dug into Sokka's wrists, Suki saw the irritation in her expression as she tried to force herself without advance. Katara was at her limit, she wanted all that Sokka had to give but too much was simply too much. His girlfriend felt bad but couldn't stop herself from finding a little bit of pride in the fact that she had never personally come across that problem with the tribesman.

Sokka himself didn't look anything like disappointed, which helped Katara get over the frustration quickly enough. She pulled up slightly, exhaling as Sokka retreated from her breaking point and back into more habitable territory. The waterbender seemed to climb for an age, almost allowing her brother to leave her entirely before sinking upon him once more, quicker this time, knowing when and where to halt. Suki hastened her dancing fingers, the anticipation had become near unbearable but it only made the thrill of seeing them finally engage all the more worthwhile. The young Kyoshi islander pushed her hips up towards her hand as she stared at Katara engulfing her brother, doing her best to match the rhythm of the couple, trying to meet her closeness to them in sensation to her closeness to them in proximity.

Once the pace had been set, Sokka tightened his hands around Katara's hips. He held her body firmly, preventing her from moving, pulling when she pushed, pushing when she pulled. After a while she was stationary, which Suki didn't quite understand. They only looked to each other, nothing more, then Katara gave a slight nod and Sokka shifted. He moved his knees upwards and planted his feet flat to the ground. Sokka's hips rose towards Katara's and a moan eked from her, he seemed cautious not to push too deep but didn't withhold entirely, going just as far as she would accept.

Katara was a moaner, Suki noted duly. Sokka moved with only a little speed but the noises the waterbender made were long, loud and heady. The pitch of her cries soared when her lover surged upwards and trailed into a soft whine when he fell back to earth. He was beginning to sound as well, trembling little yelps that he was clearly trying subdue when he slid deep into Katara. Suki loved those noises, when she usually heard them, it meant that she was getting beneath his bravado. There were nights she had spent doing all she could to make him squeal.

The pair's gaze held, unfaltering, Suki had never known anything quite like it. It wasn't like the Sokka she knew to be nearly this reserved in sex, though Suki didn't feel she was quite as delicate as Katara. The Kyoshi Warrior tried to read their eyes but they were imperceivable, all she could tell was that they both found some degree of assurance in their shared stare, some sort of understanding with each other that only they held. The redhead knew that both of them had only their sibling to rely on for so many fearful years at the South Pole and that they were both strong for each other after their Mom passed away but whether those were the roots of their connection, or merely strengthened it, she couldn't tell. She knew that it was special though, something only Katara could ever share with Sokka, a part of him that she herself would never have access to. Suki didn't mind though, she understood and besides she could share plenty with him that Katara never would. Suki lay back into the pillows, stroking faster and harder, her fingers pressed and spread. The heat rising within her, a short moan pushed its way passed her lips and as it did, she closed her eyes.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	2. CII - Katara & Sokka

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter II - Katara &amp; Sokka**

Starring into her eyes, Sokka felt overwhelmed by their beauty. They were home to him. Not their igloo in the south, or a time before the war uprooted them, not any sentimental nostalgia, they were home now as they'd ever been, the only pair that had been there with him through everything, for as long as he could remember. He'd be lost without them.

Katara's face was full of adoration as he thrust towards her, she felt incredible, mercilessly tight but not uncomfortably so. Sokka took quite a bit of pleasure in the noises he was causing her to make. Even now, a hero and master waterbender, Sokka still found ways to get under her skin one way or another, though really, it did him well to see Katara so happy. She hadn't been herself lately. Sokka wanted more than anything to let his sister know that he would always be there for her, as he always had been but he didn't tell her, he had no need to tell her anything. Sokka knew that Katara understood because despite their bickering, their commitment to each other had always been absolute, through thick and thin.

Katara had grown so beautiful in the last year or so, her chest and hips noticeably filling out, developing her into the woman she would become. The tribesman was proud of his little sister, even if he made her the butt of his jokes a little too often, he'd always understood that she was destined for great things and if he was able to help her in any way he could, he would. With every thrust, Katara clenched around him. If it wasn't for just how wet she had become, Sokka wasn't sure if he'd be able to move at all. He gripped at his sister's hips and drove a little faster. Looking straight at her, he saw her eyes lid just slightly as he pushed at her with more fervor. Having to manage his movements, Sokka desired to draw along her channel as wholly as he could, trying not to pull back too far and drop out and not push too far and cause the waterbender any discomfort. He was doing well, each advance causing her cry out and tighten, each retreat allowing her to relax and whimper.

The young warrior picked up on the third voice in the tent, his girlfriend's sounds becoming rather obvious themselves. He'd been in a similar situation many times when he visited Kyoshi Island. The tribesman still didn't fully understand why Suki was so fond of these arrangements, he didn't think he'd be best pleased watching her with another man but it was obvious from how incensed she would be afterwards, if he had strength enough for another round, that seeing him with someone else drove her wild. As far as Suki was concerned, it wasn't cheating so long as she got to watch. It was one of her few vices as leader of the Kyoshi Warriors and Sokka had seen her mentally beat herself up over it. She knew only to pick from a roster of her girls who would be completely comfortable and understand the situation. Sokka could remember how he himself had felt awkward for so long, feeling more like a performer than a lover and trying not to show too much enjoyment in front of Suki. Over time though, he acclimatized, knowing that the redhead wasn't judging him and he began to appreciate the perks of her kink.

His sister's moans grew in their intensity, her hips that Sokka held firm starting to roll in his grasp. Katara's added movement forced a grunt out of him. He saw as his little sister hunched forward, shuddering above every thrust, feeling as she squeezed around him deep within her. She attempted to readjust herself but swayed towards Sokka as he pushed upwards. The tribesman removed his right hand from her body and lay it on the sheets, trying to hold Katara as still as he could with the left. Rising from the ground, Sokka shifted his legs and butt backwards and pulled his sister into his lap. His eyes approached hers. The brunette's lips were parted by the pleasure he gave, he attacked them with his own. Eyes became lidded, Katara's arms clambered to embrace him about the neck, he held her close at the midriff. Her body was intoxicating, pressed against his own. Her skin was sleek and smooth, the thin veneer of sweat allowing them to slide against each other, the swell of her soft chest on him, her tongue hungrily lavishing his with affection and her burning center surrounding him as they rocked together.

Tongues entwined, Katara wrapped her legs around her brother and pulled his head as close as she could. She needed as much of him as she could get, every touch deepened their connection. His lips hewn to hers, their tongues wrestled between them. He cradled her by the buttocks and swayed her along his length. The feel of Sokka inside her was beyond compare for Katara, he tested all her dimensions, stretching her to capacity each time he brought her downwards. Her brother pervaded Katara's every sensation. Touch, sound, smell, sight, it all pivoted about him in this moment, even her breathing and the heat that rippled throughout her body depended on the movements he made. Katara's urge was deepening, she could feel her ecstasy building, pulsing towards its conclusion. She writhed against the tribesman, her body trying to draw him deeper though she knew she couldn't accommodate. The brunette felt Sokka growling in their kiss as she moved, she wanted him to feel as good as she did.

Her brother was the only one she'd been able to rely on throughout her whole life. Their Mother passed, their Father left for the war and those years before they stopped the Fire Lord were harsh and demanding, Sokka was her one and only constant throughout. He had provided for her, she had cared for him, they were each other's rocks and though to the outside world it might have appeared as if they often didn't quite get along, they both understood that their love always remained. Both had been through so much stress and turmoil that they required an outlet, something on which to vent their frustrations. The only reason Katara's stress manifested itself as arguments with Sokka was because she knew her brother was strong enough to take it and he likewise with her. Their sibling was the only other person who understood their situation as well as they themselves and the only one who understood that a few harsh words in the heat of the moment could never undo the bond they had forged together. Without Sokka, Katara would have lost a piece of herself and she now clung to him in hope that they would always stay as close as this.

His arms tightened around her following another grunt, Katara was openly moaning into her big brother's mouth by this point. His close grip furthered her excitement, Sokka's body felt wonderful pressed against her. He had always possessed a tall frame but he had really developed in his other dimensions since they had left their tribe. Food, as he never let his sister forget, was something that Sokka adored, though it was thinly spread when he was the sole provider for their village. In their travels, the siblings had eaten better than they'd ever known and that coupled with whatever training regime Suki had him on, which Katara noted she'd have to thank the Kyoshi Warrior for later, had given rise to the strapping lad she was riding. Shoulders broad, chest chiseled, arms strong, Sokka was becoming every bit the kind of Southern warrior Katara dreamed she would be with as a girl.

Their kiss ended in a scream, the surging mass within Katara bringing her ever closer. When she opened her eyes again, she caught glimpse of their admirer. Suki's legs squirmed along the sheets, the redhead's mouth hung agape, violet eyes struggling to stay open as she watched them. A strange realization dawned on Katara, she could hardly believe that she was letting herself be seen like this, least not with her brother. She couldn't for a moment even imagine telling anybody how she felt about Sokka, how comfortable and natural she felt loving him like this, it was a secret she never dreamed of sharing with anyone and yet here they, exhibitioning for Suki, hiding nothing from her or from each other. To know that Suki accepted them made Katara feel infinitely closer to the Kyoshi girl, she had always been fond of Sokka's girlfriend but now she felt more like the sister she had never had. Welcome to the family, Suki.

She rested her forehead against her brother's, their heated breath pooling between them, lips only inches apart. Katara brought her hands from around Sokka's neck to his front, caressing the firm cut of his chest, her fingers looked as though they would melt straight into his body, their bodies now damp with exertion, his skin matching hers perfectly in shade. She could feel the muscles heave and strain in his chest as he brought her down time and time again. His cock feeling as though it swelled within her the closer she came to the threshold. All she could smell was him, them, the sticky musk of their mating. All she could hear were the broken cries and groans of their lovemaking. All she could taste was the dryness on her tongue, a thirst that needed sating. All she could see were his eyes, a mirror image of her own, knowing what she urged for more than she did herself. All she could feel was him inside her, the tip parting her depths as he entered, the ridge grinding her contours as he left, the heaving, bulking mass feeling like hot iron pulsing within her. Her every experience in this moment was Sokka, nothing else mattered, nothing else existed but him and how he was making her feel. Katara let herself fall, pushing against her brother. He held her tightly as he rolled back, pulling her down atop him.

With his hips free, Sokka pumped upwards. Katara surrendered entirely to what was happening to her body. She linked her arms under him and her head fell over his shoulder. The slick of her passion allowed him no resistance as he pushed Katara to her maxis. With her backside rippling to every thrust, the smacking of flesh on flesh drowned out by their pleasure, her flush chest pressed against his, her nails clinging to her brother's skin, his sturdy shaft plundering her, bringing her to capacity in and out, in and out, in and out. She snapped, she flared, she apexed. Katara came then and there, a voltage shot out across her body from where they connected. It fried the depths that clutched around him and tingled her fingertips and toes. Sokka sustained Katara's exhilaration as he motored away inside of her. Her strength ebbed away, she saw blue, only blue. With him she felt safe, she felt understood, she felt loved.

The waterbender was spent, mustering up what little wind was left in her lungs.

"Sokka."

"Katara."

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	3. CIII - First Flashback

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter III - First Flashback**

The tent was calm once more. The gusts outside died away with the siblings' passion. They lay a sweaty, sighing pile of brown atop a mess of bedding. Sokka was flat on his back, physically unsatisfied but emotionally drained, he stared straight up towards nothing in particular. Katara was curled snugly beside him, he'd lent her one of his arms to rest her head against, his fingers lightly dancing across the small of her back as she painted invisible circles on his his chest. Katara had her back to Suki and her legs shut tight and tucked in, concealing her tender intimacy from the world.

Sokka turned to them, first his sister, restfully nuzzled against his chest, she was somewhere else as she toyed at him with her fingers, she looked so peaceful that he decided to leave her to it. Looking beyond her to his girlfriend, the tribesman's heart raced at the site. Suki was sat up on her elbows with her legs still spread wide, her center glistening with her juices in the dim glow. The redhead caught Sokka's ogling and shot him a big, daft grin, she couldn't contain her happiness over what she'd just seen. She felt so blessed and so trusted to be witness to their most private moments. Sokka was hers, from now until they passed, they were in love and could be truly honest with each other. Katara, however, Suki had never imagined would be willing to open up like this and the Kyoshi Warrior was truly grateful to her friend for doing so. Suki thought back over the past few days, all the events that had brought them to his moment. She knew exactly where these events had started, at the Royal Fire Palace, a few short hours before they had set off.

\- Sokka and Suki's naked bodies dropped like stones to the luxuriant red quilt. Flustered and breathless, this is how they'd spent most of their free time since Sokka had arrived in the Capital. Almost every moment they got to themselves when Suki was off duty or when they weren't guests of honor attending some nobleman's social event, and sometimes when she was on duty or they were attending a nobleman's social event, was spent as intimately as could be, trying to make up for lost time they'd spent departed. A few disapproving glares from the Palace's cleaning staff, who collected their linen each morning wouldn't deter them. When they asked, Sokka blamed the stains on Suki's white face-paint, she made sure she got him back for that one. Still, as close as they were, she couldn't help but feel her boyfriend seemed a little preoccupied during their latest bout.

Suki turned on her side to face her boyfriend, resting a hand on his stomach

"What's wrong, Sokka?"

He seemed a tad taken aback, woken from his daydream.

"Huh?"

"You seemed... elsewhere."

"Oh."

The tribesman rolled over to face her, wrapping and arm around her waist and pausing before speaking. When he looked Suki in the eye, she felt a twinge of dread, this sounded like it might be something serious.

"I just don't like the idea that Zuko could walk in on us at any moment, y'know? I can't get comfortable with it."

Suki smiled, then snickered, then burst out into full laughter, turning from him in his hold.

"You're such a goof!"

He shuffled up to her, holding her from behind.

"What? It could happen, it's not like the guards are gonna tell him where he can't go in his own home."

"Sokka," she craned her neck back to look at him. "They're my guards, they have a pretty good idea of when I'm... occupied."

"Oh, yeah, I guess I hadn't thought of that." Sokka closed in on Suki's neck, kissing it gently. "Still, if he wanted to, like, if he thought it was an emergency or something, nobody would stop him."

"Hmm..." She loved it when he nuzzled her neck like that. "And here I thought it was something I was doing wrong."

"Are you kidding?" Sokka moved his attention up to her jaw before passing his mouth directly over her ear. "I love what you do."

Sokka continued his petting, Suki purred in response.

"Good. Not that you have much in the way of comparison, I am your first."

He responded without much thought, more focused on what he was doing than what he was saying.

"Not my 'first' first."

The atmosphere died. Sokka froze as soon as he realized what he had said, Suki paused for a moment before sitting up, breaking his hold and looking down at him.

"I'm not?"

The tribesman panicked, his eyes flitting everywhere about the room apart from at his girlfriend.

"No no no! I didn't mean first like that, I meant first... girlfriend? Apart from Yue."

"Hey," Suki laid back down, kissing him and rubbing his arm. "I'm not mad. I don't even know why I'm surprised, I mean, just look at you. I just always assumed."

Sokka sighed, relieved that she wasn't upset. A reassuring silence hung between them for a moment, before Suki's curiosity became too much, her eyes sharpening.

"So who was the lucky lady then?"

Sokka sighed again, this time in annoyance.

"It doesn't matter, it was a long time ago."

A devious grin crept over The Kyoshi Warrior's mouth.

"Nuh-uh, you don't get away with it that easily. It was Yue, wasn't it? C'mon, it has to be."

The tribesman's brow furrowed and he quickly turned away from her without saying a word.

"Sokka..." Her cheeky expression replaced with guilt, Suki reached for him but got no reaction. "Sokka, I'm sorry. I didn't kno-"

"Me and Yue never had the time to get close like that." He cut her off. "I lost her before we ever had the chance, so no, it wasn't her."

When he rolled back over to his girlfriend, she kissed him again, she felt that might make it up to him somewhat, she didn't want him upset.

"You've got to stop blaming yourself for her. I know I wasn't there but I do know there wasn't anything you could have done. Trust me, you and your charms going up to the North Pole and enticing a Princess like that, you'll have given her the best time of her life. If anything ever happened to me-"

"It won't."

"-But if it did, that's what I'd remember, the good stuff."

Sokka let it sink in, after a while he simply looked at Suki and smiled.

"My charms?"

She laughed and put on her most grandiose voice.

"Oh, of course. Rugged, smart, down to earth. Ooo, 'earth', it wasn't Toph was it?"

Sokka rose an eyebrow towards her.

"Toph? No, she's only a kid. Anyway, how come this is so important to you?"

"It's not." Suki pouted, she couldn't pretend she didn't want to know for long however. "Okay, not really, it's just, how have we not had this conversation until now?"

Sokka pulled her in for a tight hug, kissing her forehead before rolling on his back.

"We're doers more than talkers."

Suki laughed, snuggling beside her man, draping an arm and leg across him.

"Back on Kyoshi Island, about a year before me and you met, there was another one of the warriors a couple of years and a couple of ranks ahead of me. Her name was Choro and we were close."

Suki waited, gauging Sokka's reaction but he gave her nothing.

"There was a beautiful evening that spring, we got into a scuffle with some thugs trying to extort a shopkeeper and I cut my leg. Choro was bandaging me up when she told me how she felt. She told me that a few of the older girls had decided to leave the warriors, they were getting off the island altogether, there wasn't anything for them there but bandits and drunks. Some wanted to go to the University at Ba Sing Se, some wanted to find an Earth Kingdom master to train under, others just wanted to fight the Fire Nation, either way, they were leaving and Choro was going to be one of them. I don't think I'll ever forget how her big, green eyes looked when she told me she wanted to spend her last months on the island with me."

She stopped again, Sokka stirred slightly, nudging her on. Suki grinned.

"Anyway, we went back to her room and that was my first time. A few months later, she went to train under a swordsman near Chameleon Bay and I took command of the girls who stayed."

Sokka sighed, he was hoping that last part of story would be more detailed.

"That's nice and all, Suki, but just because you told me yours doesn't mean I have to tell you mine."

Suki got up off his chest and glared down at him.

"Sokka, that's exactly what it means."

He didn't dignify her with a response, he appeared as though he might, opening his mouth wide, Suki hung to every moment with great anticipation but all that came out of him was a long yawn. She scoffed, jabbing him at a pressure point in his side.

"Was it Ty Lee?"

Sokka laughed, rubbing the spot where she'd just poked him.

"Trust me, if it was Ty Lee, you'd already know about it." He rolled away from her and nestled into the covers. "Seriously, just drop it. I want to get some shut-eye before we have to get ready for this big banquet thing."

Suki sat in silence. Sure, she'd forgotten about this big feast Zuko had planned but that didn't mean she'd give up the chase. She pondered the other options for a while but nothing was forthcoming. What was this banquet even for again?

Suki gasped.

"No!"

Her boyfriend froze, a great shudder racking him, he could have no idea what exactly she had in mind but something was telling him it was the one thing he hoped it wouldn't be. When she spoke next his fears were justified

"Katara, she was your first."

He span around, sitting up in a fit of faux disgust. "How can you even say that? She's my sister. That's sick!" but the way his girlfriend looked at him, it was clear she saw straight through his protestations.

"Fine." Sokka conceded defeat with a heavy fall back to the bed. "I slept with Katara, now you know why I didn't want you finding out. Happy now?"

Suki lay down beside Sokka and held him, kissing his neck. This was clearly a big deal to him, Suki could reason with that but didn't feel it herself, she didn't think any less of him or of her for it. He was still Sokka, this had happened whether she knew about it or not and she still loved him.

"It's okay, Sokka. I get it-"

"You can't 'get it'."

"No, I do. Trust me, Kyoshi Island isn't a whole lot bigger than your village, things like this happen, sometimes to people I've known. It doesn't change who they are."

Sokka sighed and wrapped and arm around the redhead's shoulders. There really wasn't any use hiding anything from her now and she'd taken it surprisingly well so far.

"I don't know when it started. I mean properly, we slept together for the first time maybe a couple of years after my Dad had gone but I remember spending a long time where I started to look at Katara differently. Before he left, Dad took care of everything, all I really remember of her before then was crying and complaining and everybody telling her how special she was because of her 'magic' and none of that changed when we were on our own. I'd still get annoyed whenever she whined about the tiniest thing and I spent so many nights trying to stop her from crying that I felt like giving in but the more time I was with her, the more I understood why she was so upset and I got pretty good at cheering her up.

She helped me a lot too, Dad left me in charge of feeding the whole village, that was the man's job but it isn't not so easy when you're the only man around. We struggled, Suki, we really struggled. When I came home most days I barely had the strength to stand, whether I made a catch or not and when I didn't, I took the blame. People were going hungry because of me but Katara never said anything about it, she knew how much I was trying and she only tried to make things easier for me. She was good at it too, she cooked our food, stitched our clothes, even fixed a few weapons but she'd had some time to get ready for that. I didn't realize it when it happened but after our Mom died, Katara had really had to step up and take on a lot of her responsibilities. She lost a part of her childhood to that and now Dad was gone, I was going through the same thing. She knew how I felt and was there for me. I took her out hunting a few times because she just wanted to help and I eventually got that.

There was nobody around for us but ourselves, not our age. We were both so stressed and worried, about the village, about Dad, about each other. We both needed a release, something to look forward to at the end of each day and we found it. I know it's not right but I really don't know if we would have coped so well without each other, I know I wouldn't."

Suki looked up at Sokka, he'd been staring off into space the whole time.

"Sokka, I had no idea it was that bad for you at South Pole. I didn't know."

He chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, well, the war wasn't sunshine and rainbows, was it? It's over now anyway."

Sokka pulled Suki closer, she was glad to see he was able to make light of it.

"Doesn't it feel better to get that off your chest?"

She'd broken him from his introspection, he looked at her again.

"Huh? Yeah, I guess it does."

Suki smiled.

"Still," she lay a hand on his cheek. "Pretty weird and all, banging your sister."

Sokka flew up and grabbed the pillow he was resting on before flinging it at her head.

"Hey! You were supposed to be a sympathetic ear!"

Suki started to laugh, deflecting the oncoming package of feathers behind her.

"I'm kidding! Might be a little awkward with her being at dinner though."

Sokka groaned, sagging back to the bed.

"Uhh, why did I have to tell you before that?"

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	4. CIV - Sokka & Suki

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter IV - Sokka &amp; Suki**

That's how the wheels had been set into motion that lead them to where they were now. As she saw them cuddled up, part of Suki still couldn't really believe what she'd seen. Sokka had laid his head back down but not before kissing the top of Katara's hair. When Suki inspected his body, one part of him stood more blatantly than the rest. His manhood still remained engorged, throbbing periodically and dripping in his and Katara's collective excitement. Where his sister had failed, Suki had plenty experience at succeeding and having seen him perform so admirably, she felt it her duty to see the job through.

Suki rolled forwards on her backside, sitting up before steadily rising to her feet in the relative darkness. The layout of the tent was a little adhoc and she was careful not to stand on anything, the enclosure was barely suitably sized for two, never mind three. The Kyoshi Islander nearly stumbled over Katara's legs, someone less naturally balanced may have gone tumbling to the ground but she had managed to make her way to her boyfriend without much incident. Standing over Sokka, Suki bit on her lip while smirking down at him. The redhead examined her tribesman from above, starting with the big, blue eyes that stared back at her. They were frighteningly like his sister's, expressive and entrancing. There was no mistaking Sokka as anything other than Water Tribe from here alone, that cool azure so emblematic of his people. Suki used to hear tales passed down among the women of the traders who used to come from the South before the war; tough, handsome and with eyes as blue as the sea itself, when she first met Sokka, he lived up to all her expectations, visually at least. From the rest of his face it was obvious why he'd developed a reputation as something of a heartthrob before she'd managed to lock him down, his nose that was uncharacteristically sharp for his tribe, his mouth could jump from a wide grin to a deadpan frown at a moment's notice. Sokka's dark hair was still bound up in his signature wolftail, usually he'd shake it out before bed but tonight he hadn't managed to find the time, Suki adored that hairstyle and could barely imagine him without it, it was so unlike any of the cuts from her island and when he let his hair down for her, it framed his face so perfectly. His jawline was chiseled and defined, something he'd certainly inherited from his Dad who, Suki knew, if Sokka was going to end up resembling anything like, she'd have no problem finding him just as beguiling well into their forties as she did now.

Between Sokka's head and the rest of his body was a whalebone choker that he never seemed to be without, even when the rest of him was bare. Suki started at his shoulders, broad and brown, she knew them so well she could practically feel them under her fingertips now. His sister was lying atop one, either totally oblivious or willfully ignoring Suki's gaze, whichever the case Katara remained immersed completely in her reverie. Suki's eyes followed down to Sokka's chest and forearms, she'd commented just how much more buff and sculptured he'd become after their first reunion at the Serpent's Pass, the adventurer's life did wonders for his body. She couldn't resist a chance to glance over to Katara's body either, where Sokka was trim muscles and straight lines, she was flowing curves and contours. Not that life on the road had left Katara more unfit than her brother but that the discipline's of waterbending had honed her figure differently, she was smooth and graceful, she was her element itself and lacked the clear definition that Sokka or even Suki possessed.

As the Kyoshi Warrior's eyes continued down Sokka's body, they passed over Katara's arm, tightly wrapped across the border between her brother's chest and his abdomen. Here Suki found more of the musculature that was coming to mark Sokka as a man. The redhead watched as he took breath, how certain lines would rise to the surface as he inhaled and then vanish beneath the brown when the wind left him. His outline was composed of relatively straight lines, he didn't posses any of the swell of his sister at the hips. Lain before Suki now was her prize, her eyes held to it fixated on that smooth and hard piece of Sokka. The mere sight of it caused a quiver in her chest. It rested flat against his belly, rising towards her slightly on each of his breaths. Suki's eyes focused on a bead of wetness Katara had left, trickling along the length to the shaven sac beneath. If Suki could recall the feel of his shoulders from memory, then the sensations of this part of Sokka were etched on her every feminine instinct. Its size, its shape, just staring at it caused an urge to flare between Suki's legs.

She began her descent towards him, perching herself between his legs, bringing her face closer to _**it**_. Suki tentatively reached out and placed her hand on Sokka. He shuddered briefly, she could feel the fresh slick on the flesh and the intense heat which burned under the skin. Wrapping her delicate fingers somewhere around its upper portion, the Kyoshi Warrior pulled him to stand vertically. The redhead found the length still partially malleable in her hand, fully formed but dulled slightly from neglect, lacking in its optimum firmness, Suki would correct that. She relaxed in her position, shuffling back until she was lying between Sokka's legs on her front, her head and shoulders risen on her elbows with Sokka in her right hand. The Kyoshi Warrior held him upright as she closed in, she tilted her head to make sure she could peer at her boyfriend from around his length. Clutching him near the head and squeezing slightly, Suki's lips parted as her tongue ventured out towards the base. She made contact with his flesh and slowly tilted her head back, drawing her mouth upwards. The juices collected on her tongue until their taste was detectable, ever so slightly salty and a little bitter. She watched Sokka's face strain as she licked along him, there was the threat of a grumble from behind his teeth, Suki knew that it wouldn't take her full arsenal to get him off, he had looked mere moments away when Katara collapsed on top of him. She pulled her face away and started to run her hand up and down the shaft, it stood vertically when she held it towards the tip but limped slightly back towards Sokka's stomach when Suki was at its base, however, when a little more speed and pressure was applied, he grew more turgid and structured.

Sokka groaned under Suki's stroking, she watched him intently as his chest began to rise and fall with more enthusiasm. Katara, however, didn't seem to take any notice until Suki planted her left hand at the waterbender's ankle on the leg she had wrapped around Sokka's, then Suki certainly had her attention. Katara's eyes flew open at the unexpected contact and shot straight towards its source, there she found another's gaze returned right back at her, a purple, half-lidded stare peering around her lover's manhood, fingers fondling at the top, lips kissing at the root. Katara quickly turned her attention to face Sokka, his eyes were closed but his mouth was open, noises came from him that were familiar to Katara, they were her noises, they were the noises she made him make. She pulled her hand from the other side of her brother and planted it on his chest, she felt a speedy thudding from within. Was she that replaceable? Was their connection imagined?

Katara brought her hand to Sokka far cheek and turned his face towards hers. His eyes opened. Nothing had been lost, he still looked at her with that same love as he closed in and kissed her.

His hand went to the back of Katara's head and he held her close, she could feel the steady rumble at the back of his throat.

All Sokka could feel were hands and lips. Katara's palm rested softly against his cheek as Suki wrist jerked at his shaft. his sister's lips caressed his own sweetly as his girlfriend's suckled against his flesh and parted for the way of long, attentive licks. The contrast between the two was astounding, Katara craved intimacy, she'd always been defined by her emotions and expressing them through tenderness was of the utmost importance to her. Sokka was happy to oblige, he reveled in the bond they shared and his sister was more than able to tug at his more sensitive side. Suki, on the other hand, went about things very differently. She was direct and purposeful, not aggressive or domineering and not without romance, she and Sokka could be very sweet when the time was right but, when it came to more carnal matters, Suki was very much like her boyfriend, a warrior, primed for action. Love was implied and didn't need to be stressed, there was a reason they were there and Suki would rather get to it.

The Kyoshi girl rose on her elbows until her face was above Sokka's throbbing length. The tip glistened in a mix of fluids Suki felt all three of them could take partial responsibility for. The redhead lowered her mouth to him, kissing the head passionately, letting her lips fold around his form, lavishing Sokka, worshiping at him. Suki's lips were simply something else to the tribesman, tender and plump, always standing out against her light skin, he loved to kiss them but loved what she could do with them down there even more. Sokka felt the tip of his shaft enveloped in a soft, wet heat. He broke his kiss with Katara briefly to find his breath before returning to her with feverish passion. Suki held Sokka's glans in her mouth, flicking the peak with her tongue as her hand pumped his hard shaft. A pressure built within Sokka from his girlfriend's drumming rhythm, it made him tense up at the knees and gasp out. The redhead leaned closer, with her teeth rolled under her luscious lips, she pushed down on Sokka and took more of him into her mouth. Suki pulsed at his underside with her tongue, lapping at as much of the of the invading flesh as she could with every advance. The tribesman began to writhe slowly, his breath becoming heavier as he felt himself consumed by the pleasure Suki gave him. The Kyoshi Warrior relaxed her throat as Sokka approached the back of her mouth, she'd become adept at suppressing her gag reflex since becoming intimate with him, it was more or less a requirement. She made a series of gulping sounds as her lips finally touched base but mostly held her composure. Suki couldn't say it was incredibly comfortable having her entire mouth stuffed to capacity and she'd soon have to come up for air but she took some degree of pride in being able to take Sokka whole. As the final inch of him entered his girlfriend, Sokka fell from Katara and landed on his back, the pauses in their make out session had become more frequent the more the redhead worked him and Katara looked down at her brother as he surrendered to the Kyoshi Warrior's mastery. His eyes were shut tight and he panted for air, Katara didn't make any sort of movement until she felt a squeeze from Suki's fingers on her leg. The waterbender pounced, covering Sokka's mouth with her own. His eyes flew wide open as she forced her tongue inside him and, after the initial shock, he met her with his own.

Suki flew off from Sokka's dick with a little, spluttering cough. She soon regained her shaky breath and restlessly jerked the firmness still in her grasp. Her hand became soaked in her own saliva as she ran her fist over Sokka's length. The redhead could always discover some primal pleasure in how he felt in her hold, there was a definite satisfaction to be found in the feel of his engorged member, dense, hot, firm, smooth and heavy. She watched how the supple skin folded over the beating crest as she moved her hand upwards and then when it peeled back when she pulled down. Even the hot and musky odor was deeply intoxicating as it filled her nostrils. Suki moved for her boyfriend's sac and and took one of the stones into her mouth, it wasn't something she thought she could stomach were it not for how perfectly shaven Sokka kept himself. The Kyoshi Islander rolled it around with her tongue and pressed her face right up against Sokka as her hand continued to beat his heavy length. Sokka wrapped his arms around Katara's back as she continued to press herself against him, her soft breasts were squeezed against his chest and her lips tasted incredible as the ecstasy buzzed through his body. The waterbender began to stir as Sokka held her close, hearing him moan into her mouth excited her and she began to wonder what other noises Suki could get him to make. When he sighed next, Katara closed her teeth lightly around his bottom lip and felt him shudder, his hand slowly moved from around her back and headed downwards.

Pulling herself from his satchel, Suki made her way back up Sokka. She was generous in her affection, kissing, licking and tending to every detail of his firm manhood as she climbed upwards. Suki pecked the head before suddenly pushing a good portion of him passed her lips. Her wrist twisted at the base she still held in her hand, as her head bobbed along the rest. His heat was filling Suki's mouth and she caressed as much of him as she could get with her tongue. Pushing Sokka deeper and deeper inside of her, Suki began to writhe into the bedding she lay on, she could feel herself growing needier and wetter. What she wanted was to feel the tribesman elsewhere on and in her body but she harnessed those urges to drive herself towards the home straight.

As Sokka's hand trailed downwards along Katara, so to did hers along him. He felt the velvet smooth curves of her back as she sampled his sculpted flanks. Their lips were hewn together and their tongues twisted between fights for breath. Sokka reached his goal first and clamped his fingers around Katara's ample backside. Her fingers traveled over his belt line where she entwined them with those of another. Suki spread her fingers to allow Katara to slide hers between, Sokka winced as his sister gripped him and he could feel her lips curl into a smile against his cheek. The sensation of both girls holding him caused Sokka to buck into Suki as the pleasure started to overwhelm him, when Suki sucked on him, he could feel her humming throat on his cock. His sister pulled her hand away from his girlfriend's and moved up him still. Suki's eyes opened up in surprise when she felt Katara's hand pushing against her nose. She tried to ignore it and finish what she'd begun but the waterbender was unrelenting and Suki found herself separated from Sokka as Katara blocked access to him with her hand.

Sokka grumbled as, once again, Katara snatched release from him when so close. He tried to hold on to that feeling but the momentum had gone, the mood was dulled.

"What gives?"

Suki's jerking hand came to a stop and she pulled away when it was clear the moment had passed.

"What's happened, Katara?"

The waterbender sighed, first turning to her brother and then to the Kyoshi Warrior, neither looked best pleased but at the same time seemed genuinely curious as to what she had to say.

"I just wanted to see you two... together. Y'know properly, like how me and Sokka were. I thought you'd want to, I'm sorry if I did something wrong."

Suki gave a devious grin.

"Oh, don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm game."

Sokka smiled at his sister in that way that he does that means he's just thought of some smart aleck comment to make.

"You just wanted to see the 'perfect couple'?"

The Kyoshi watched as Katara went red and turned her face away with a gasp. The redhead had no idea what that meant but she'd already resigned to the fact that she'd never know all the little intricacies that they shared.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	5. CV - Second Flashback

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter V - Second Flashback**

The dinner with Zuko and his Mother proved to be brief and awkward. The Fire Lord had gone to great lengths to strip out the banquet hall of its ornate long table and high chairs of black, red and gold and refurbished the room with a rustic chabudai and zabuton layout, clearly reminiscent of Ursa's home in Hira'a. The sentiment was sweet and while Ursa was very grateful for her son's effort to make her feel more at home, the whole thing was a little lost on Sokka and Suki. The palace's dining hall was a big, big room, something made so much more obvious now by how compact the Zuko's new arrangement was. They all sat on their cushions, packed around the low table, personal space clearly not being the priority for The Fire Lord when he was putting the set together. Not that any of that would have really mattered had Katara not been in such a sour mood.

She'd arrived at the Palace more or less just in time for dinner, she had been at the North Pole for some weeks now, giving lessons in waterbending to a number of the healers who wanted to broaden their skills. Word from Katara had been scarce since she'd gone up there, she only wrote to confirm when she'd arrive at the Palace. This get together had been planned well in advance, Katara was due to head to the Southern Tribe to perform a long neglected spirit ritual with Pakku and part of the reason for her going North was to collect sacred water from the Spirit Oasis and bring it South to her tribe, carried in a ceremonial, purple waterskin with intricate white decorations. Kanna and Hakoda had written to Sokka, telling him that he was also to be there, as it was an important festival for the tribe and the young tribesman had invited Suki to join them. Originally, Aang was also asked to head South, however he had declined in favor searching for ancient Air Nomad artifacts with his new Air Acolytes, something which had apparently caused a bit of a spat between him and Katara. Sokka had arrived at the Fire Nation Palace a few days ahead of his sister, The Fire Lord's home being the agreed upon meet up location, giving everybody a chance to catch up with Zuko and his Mother before the trio journeyed South together. They had a fair amount of time to kill before the Winter Solstice, when the ceremony would be taking place, so they had decided, rather than take the first ship from the capital, that they would hike through the Fire Nation towards another port town, camping under the stars, just like old times. However, given Katara's current disposition, Sokka wasn't entirely sure he was in favor of that plan anymore.

Once dinner was over, Suki made sure that her warriors had everything in order. As Ty Lee knew the Palace better than any of the other girls, Suki was leaving her in charge. Ty Lee didn't have a single doubt about being up for the job and had worn her biggest smile all day. Suki was sure she'd be more than capable but it didn't hurt to double check. Sokka scanned their room to make sure they hadn't left anything unpacked. Technically, the Palace staff had given Sokka his own room when he arrived but he hadn't actually seen it during his stay, favoring to spend most of his time in Suki's room. Katara, on the other hand, with what luggage she had from the North Pole still packed, just how she left it, had little to do and waited silently for her travelling companions to get ready, swishing the cup of tea in her hands with her waterbending.

After bidding Zuko, Ursa and the Kyoshi Warriors farewell, Katara, Sokka and Suki left the Fire Nation Capital by ostrich horse carriage. Lying on the equator, the capital never really experienced anything like winter, so the city was blistering and bustling as ever. The streets were alive with merchants and performers, sights, sounds and smells. Suki would point out many of her favorite haunts as they passed by, Sokka asked if that theatre they'd been to a couple of nights ago was down some avenue they crossed, Suki corrected him. In truth, Katara wasn't paying them much attention. The couple found conversation with her difficult, when they asked about her time at the North Pole, she'd only give short replies, sometimes just the one word. Sokka simply put it down to tiredness, even for a waterbender, sailing half way across the world wasn't a necessarily relaxing experience. The redhead leaned against her boyfriend and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, she began to make plans for when they'd next be in the city together, when they'd have some more time, how she'd show him all the best places to eat and where to get the best views of the harbor. Suki told him about a restaurant that had just started doing Southern Water Tribe food, she thought it was great but told Sokka she'd need his opinion first. The tribesman chuckled and kissed her on her forehead, Katara tried not to pay any attention to them.

Civilization thinned out as they reached the edges of the capital, sprawling walkways and commerce gave way to estates and farmland. The coach driver hitched up the ostrich horses when they met the outskirts of the city. Suki, being the only one of the three with any actual Fire Nation money, went to pay the driver as the siblings unloaded their gear. Sokka decided to take the first opportunity he had alone with his sister to confront her mood.

"What's up? You seem a little... agitated, more so than usual. Did something happen at the North Pole?"

Katara tutted at her brother as she violently yanked the holding straps away from their bags, clearly working out some frustration. Her voice was rich with sarcasm.

"Oh, no. Don't worry yourself about me, Sokka." Her tone dropped. "It's not like I'm allowed to have the 'oogies' for once."

Her brother stopped dead, he had been unloading more of their packs but now he turned to Katara, raising an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?"

She faced him head on, forgetting all about the sleeping bags she was trying to pull free.

"Oh, come on, Sokka. You two, in the back of there." She pointed at the carriage, sneering. "All over each other, making your plans about days out in the city, pretending you're the... Perfect couple."

Sokka was becoming more and more confused but not nearly as much as he was becoming annoyed.

"Perfect couple? We've have hardly seen each other in months. She's happy to see me, like I thought you'd be, me and Suki are just catching up on lost time."

Katara laughed as she hauled their luggage off the carriage.

"Oh great, well at least try and keep your 'catching up' down tonight. I still get nightmares from the last few nights before the Comet."

The tribesman tried to say something but he was simply too stunned at her outburst and fortunately, Suki came to interrupt their little tiff. Katara approached the redhead with armfuls of baggage and shoved them into her chest, rocking Suki backwards before she stormed off.

"Here's your stuff."

Suki looked to her boyfriend for any sort of explanation, something had happened between them because he was brimming with anger when he looked back at her.

"Just ignore her, Suki. She's not worth it."

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	6. CVI - Sokka & Suki, part 2

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter VI - Sokka &amp; Suki, part 2**

The tent looked a little tidier now. Everything until this point had been impromptu and left just how they'd found it but as the lovers rearranged themselves into their new found positions, they packed away some of the scattered personal affects and straightened out the sheets beneath them. Katara was now placed quite neatly on one side of the tent, sitting on her knees with her hands resting upon her lap. Before her, Sokka and Suki are knelt together, her in front with him behind. The tribesman held his love around the waist and pressed himself against her back, he kissed and nipped from the crook of her neck up to her earlobe and then back down again, they'd been at this for a few minutes, he whispered things into her ear that Katara couldn't make out but they certainly made Suki giggle.

It was a little strange for Katara, she'd never imagined she'd ever be in a position where she was watching another couple make love but right now she couldn't imagine being anywhere else. It was difficult for her to place her anticipation, there was no way watching her brother have sex could be as good as actually having sex with him, yet the thought of seeing him with Suki gave her shivers.

The Kyoshi girl turned her head side on to find Sokka's mouth and as she did, caught a glimpse of their audience. The waterbender was watching wide-eyed, alert but cautious, not at all like Suki herself had been when she was in attendance, lounged back with legs spread. Katara clearly wasn't as relaxed as the redhead when it came to the bedroom and judging by the way she had been with Sokka when Suki watched them, she probably thought that sex was all sweet kisses and tender embraces. Suki was determined to show Katara what her brother was like untamed.

Sokka caught his girlfriend's lips with his own, their tongues soon meeting each other. The tribesman's cock still ached for release and he groaned as his lover ground her backside against him. His response was to move his hands from her waist and place them on her breasts. They were firm and perky, offering just the right amount of resistance as he squeezed them. Sokka's fingers grazed Suki's nipples and she sucked at the humid air in the tent. He pressed the soft mounds together and began to grind back at her, rubbing himself on the crease of her toned butt. Leaning into her, pushing her forward slightly as they kissed and touched, Sokka had been made to wait for far too long and was becoming restless.

As much as she enjoyed the feel of her boyfriend's strong hands groping her chest, the Kyoshi Warrior wasn't exactly in the mood for hanging around either. When Sokka coerced her forward, she understood his intentions and dropped forward, supporting herself on hands and knees. Palms quickly landing on Suki's round buttocks, the tribesman rolled them in his hands, drawing his length between the cheeks, savoring the pleasure of grinding on her. His sister watched on with nervous excitement and an amount of surprise, she was aware of the position they were taking but it wasn't one she had expected. Being face to face with her partner was a crucial aspect of sex for Katara and she'd always assumed her brother would be exactly the same but right now, Sokka seemed very much in his element in approaching Suki from behind.

When Sokka moved backwards to reposition himself, Suki threw her head back over her shoulders and towards him, holding his gaze with eyes half lidded as she flexed her hips, tempting him. Katara began to smile, she had no idea that Sokka could be so effected by the grace of the female form but his eyes were fixed on the redhead, almost hypnotically, as she displayed for him. He broke her spell by planting a hand at her hip and holding himself at the base of his manhood, the tribesman motioned towards her before shaking his length. The tip swung up, latching against Suki's entrance before running down along her slit and over the sensitive crown of her womanhood and it did this with rapid speed and frequency, slapping against her. Katara saw Suki's brow furrow, she was being toyed with and there was little she could do. The muscles of the Warrior girl's inner thighs tensed up and her jaw dropped, she attempted to hide a moan under some muffled obscenity that Katara couldn't quite make out as Sokka teased her.

It wasn't long until her boyfriend's urges began to get the better of him, maintaining this hardness for so long without any release was starting to ache and Suki wasn't showing him any resistance. Sokka ceased drumming her slit and placed his tip to her entrance firmly. The mere contact of him there made Suki burn up, Sokka may have been cruelly robbed of his climax a couple of times but he had received plenty of external stimulation in the process. Suki, on the other hand, had only been relying on her own fingers until this point, she was just as hungry as he was. Katara saw her brother's fingers clench into the redhead's soft backside, his length putting some distance between the couple as he began his advance.

Suki's lips upturned into a grin when the tip entered her, that first breach of her intimacy, feeling his heat inside her body, knowing it was only the start, it changed Suki from wanting Sokka to needing him. He pushed forward, every inch of him becoming coated in Suki's wetness as he pressed. She felt magnificent, her sex pulsed around him, beckoning him deeper, part of Sokka called out to thrust in as hard as he could, another part wanted to savor every moment. When he was half sheathed, the tribesman took his hand from his base and placed it on Suki's free cheek, her skin flushing under his grasp as he moved with only his hips. He continued to immerse himself in Suki's womanhood, swaying slightly from side to side, dislodging himself from any obstructions he felt. The redhead could feel herself being parted as the occupying force surged deeper.

Fully expecting her brother to hit some sort of barrier, Katara gasped audibly when he continued beyond the point at which she'd reached her own limit. Suki was groaning as Sokka pushed on, her depths straining to take more of him. With one final rush, their bodies slammed together, both warriors moaning breathlessly as their connection became absolute. Straightening out his back, Sokka held fairly still as he allowed Suki to budge and roll, finding the most comfortable way of accommodating his mass. Katara was slightly dazed, attempting to visualize just how far inside of Suki her brother was, looking at her belly and making estimates of where he ended. The brunette couldn't imagine what taking him fully must feel like, she felt as if she would be split in half when she had attempted herself.

They held still for a while, slight readjustments were made and their urges manifested as a slow and steady slight rocking back and forth in unison but nothing particularly enthusiastic. Suki was tense but allowed her body to relax as it got used to Sokka inside of her, the man himself was simply happy to be embraced fully by her sex. Katara was flaring just seeing them joined, she brought her balled hands up from her knees to her thighs, closer to her center, not actually touching anything but it somehow it felt more comfortable.

Fingertips dug into Suki's skin and her lips parted as he drew backwards. The pace was agonizing, she could feeling the bulging head press outwards on her walls as it slowly retreated. Sokka pulled almost completely out, savoring the sensations of her smooth channel. Holding only the tip in, Suki flexed her hips needily, wanting to feel him again. Her wet lips rolled around his crown, caressing him firmly. Sokka wrapped his hands around the top of Suki's thighs.

The briskness with which he pulled into her caused all three of them lose breath. Katara was amazed that Suki didn't collapse after being filled with her brother again, the waterbender was somewhat out of her comfort zone with the demonstration happening in front of her. She couldn't imagine that the way in which Sokka handled the redhead could be at all pleasurable, yet when she looked at the Kyoshi Warrior's face, she was very clearly enjoying herself immensely. Sokka had never been like this with his sister, he was always deliberate and caring when they were together and although this wasn't the side of him that Katara was used to, as she bit her lip she couldn't help but be more than a little intrigued in the Sokka that Suki knew.

The tribesman barked out in pleasure as he surrounded himself with Suki. Hearing the moan he forced out of her was as much an insentive to move itself as the intense heat and tightness of her channel was. The redhead's body shuddered as the tribesman filled her to capacity with another thrust, he was throbbing deep within her when her rested at her apex. A few more forceful entries and Sokka's movements started to gather a steadier momentum. With his hands clutching Suki's hips, he pulled back about halfway each time before driving his length deep into her. His girlfriend was pushing her backside up against his thrusts and they crashed against each other with a blunt slap of flesh that filled the tent.

As Sokka pounded the Kyoshi Warrior, he looked down to see her body bouncing back and forth against his. The auburn hair that lay on the back of her neck was beginning to clump with the sweat that gathered on her skin. The tribesman watched as her muscles of her shoulders came into clear definition whenever she arched her back. Her body was amazing to Sokka, it was so perfectly figured. Strong and beautiful, a warrior and a girl. He remembered sticky evenings on Kyoshi Island when all she wanted to do was train, sometimes he would join her, sometimes he would just sit and watch, moving through her graceful movements that lead to a quick burst of thunderous strikes and kicks. Whether he practiced with her or not, they always ended the same way, cuddled against one another, Suki with that same thin layer of sweat that she wore now and a smile across her face, satisfied at honing her skills and not allowing her technique to slip, watching the Sun go down.

Sokka's eyes trailed down her smooth back to the firm cheeks in his grasp, skin straining under his fingers, a slight ripple riding over her backside whenever their hips slammed together. He rolled her cheeks under his hands, spreading them to reveal her puckered backdoor, squeezing them together and making her passage even tighter. She leaked a low growl as he toyed with her ass. When he peered down between her cheeks, Sokka saw the place they were joined. He slid in and out of Suki, her wetness coating his shaft as he disappeared inside of her. The tribesman picked up the pace, animalistic urges telling him to go hard, fast and deep. The blood surged to his nether regions, the sensation of Suki's warm pussy clamping around his dick felt too good not to surrender to. Ramming into Suki with as much force and speed as he could muster, she responded in kind by meeting each primal thrust. Then, Sokka did something that really shocked Katara.

The air shook with a sharp crack. Katara's jaw dropped in disbelief. Suki's dropped also but instead to voice a squeaking moan. A reddened imprint remained on Suki's rump where Sokka had just smacked her. The Kyoshi Warrior threw her lower half back out towards him with greater fervor. His firm cock coursing though her sex, pushing and pulling on the sensitive folds at her entrance, pressing itself against her innermost depths, every coming together sending a wave of ecstasy through her body from the spot they were locked as one. Another stinging slap crashed down on her butt, Suki arched her back, grunting behind gritted teeth. The smacks only tightened the deep coiling feeling between her legs, her boyfriend always knew how to get the best of her with a bit of roughness. Physicality was something they both embraced in their lives and if Sokka wanted to express himself on her body she was all for it, there was very little he was capable of doing that could actually unnerve her and she could just as easily get her own back if he ever overstepped the mark. Katara was largely confused by the whole scenario, it certainly wasn't how she'd ever been told lovemaking should look or sound. It seemed wrong but the ringing of Suki's yelps made the waterbender's blood run hot, though as curious as she was about their bedroom habits, she was thankful that Sokka had never exercised quite these same methods on her.

He pistoned quicker into the Kyoshi Warrior, slamming into her from behind, their chorus of moans broken intermittently by his smacks to Suki's backside. Her body shook with every thrust, her forearms inched forward from underneath her as she rested on them. A sloshing sound came from the point of entry and droplets of their joint passion lined the bedding beneath them. The first finger began to venture out from Katara's clasped fisted, she felt the distinct friction of skin on skin as the soft pad of her fingertip crossed the hairless mound atop her womanhood. The finger began to orbit the sensitive spot that crested her there, her breath becoming steamier as she rubbed herself watching her brother fucking her friend so relentlessly.

The thrusts slowed briefly, Suki's boyfriend dropping over her, pressed against her back, his hot breath at the nape of her neck. Sokka's fists were balled in the sheets at either side of the redhead and each heavy push sought to bury him deeper where no more depth was to be found. The Kyoshi Warrior maintained balance, though it would have been easy to collapse under the weight of his body or the tenderness of his kisses. This was more to Katara's understanding, there was a sweetness and a closeness to them now but it was only a brief respite before their intensity accelerated again.

Pulling away from Suki's back, Sokka reached across to the far side of her body with his left hand and wrapped his arm under her right thigh. He hoisted his girlfriend's leg up against his chest and her hung body turned on its side. He lifted his left leg to allow hers to slip between his knees and she changed from leaning on both forearms to leaning on the one of her left arm, closest to the ground and the knuckles of her right hand, reaching over her chest. This new arrangement shielded nothing from Katara's view, Suki's face pointed towards her, as did her bouncing breasts and her spread entrance that Sokka plundered in full view. Katara sighed, drawing a coaxing finger up and down her moistening slit, she paid attention to the Suki's inner thighs tightening when Sokka pushed against her sensitive points and rubbed herself to the rhythm of her brother's guttural grunts and groans.

Sokka brought his right hand down to Suki's center, he placed two fingers over her shunting apex. The reaction was instant, Suki screamed out all the air in her lungs before murmuring his name over and over. The contrast between the force of his pounding and the delicate caressing of her clit was pushing the Kyoshi Warrior to the brink. Her energies were being split between between the soft and the hard and in the void between, she could feel her climax approach. His fingers slid about her stiffened bead and his sturdy manhood pumped tirelessly within her, if Sokka was good at anything, it was making Suki cum. She remembered their first night of intimacy, funnily enough in a tent not too dissimilar from the one they shared now. At the time, she couldn't profess to be too much of an expert on the male anatomy but the moment she saw the tribesman in the nude she couldn't foresee him having any difficulty satisfying her. There was more than that though, they were both curious lovemakers. Hands touching and prodding each other, exploring what their partner liked as much as discovering new pleasures themselves. Sokka and Suki both knew how much they loved each other, so there was no need for embarrassment when they were together and no need to hold back. They were both warriors and understood that their lover wouldn't shatter beneath them.

Suki was ripped from her reflections on their relationship by the pulsing shockwaves of her orgasm. The coil between her legs sprung loose and a burst of pleasure rocked her to the bone. The ripples pushing a series of loud moans from her chest, through her throat and out of her mouth, "S"s and "K"s jumbled between exhausted screams. A rush of fluids leaked from Suki and ran down both of their legs, her pussy clamped around Sokka like a vice, holding him in tight squeezes that timed themselves to her climax, keeping him deep within her, begging for his finish. He showed no signs of stopping though, when her ecstasy subsided and Suki regained her composure she found Sokka still fucking her as hard as he had been before. She looked back towards her boyfriend, sweat collecting on his brow, her leg had become heavy to hold and started to slip in his grasp, he'd exerted himself in making her cum and would wear himself out trying to reach his own peak if she let him.

Suki's words hummed out, barely audible under the slapping together of their bodies.

"Lie down... Sokka..."

He pretended he didn't hear her, responding by holding her leg higher and thrusting harder. Suki wouldn't be ignored.

"Sokka, lie down!"

The tribesman threw himself into Suki with one last, defiant attempt, she screamed as he pierced her before making his slow retreat, every instinct telling him not to leave her depths but his body failing him. Tired and breathless, Sokka flopped onto his back, his dick achingly hard and soaked in Suki's excitement. She backed towards her boyfriend, butt first, wrapping her fingers around his length and standing him up as she closed in on him. He slid passed her blushing folds with ease, her descent was slow and measured, tasting each firm detail as she took him to hilt once more. His knees were raised with Suki straddled the upper part of his right leg. She made small, circular motions with her hips, grinding her body against him, hearing the breath squeeze out of his chest. The redhead laced her hands on top of the knee sat in front of her and pressed down on it as she rose her body from his base.

A bead of sweat tickled her back as it slid down her, Katara's chest rose and fell with the fingers she slid in and out of herself, matching Suki's pace as she rode Sokka, what had started as a graceful and deliberate rhythm was becoming something more fevered. The tribesman brought his hands to his lover's hips but it was merely instinctive, he barely had the energy to hold her, never mind shift her, he couldn't take this lead from her even if he had any desire to. Her hot belly glid on the tribesman's thigh as she leaned into and pushed against it. Suki was trying to focus on bringing him to release as she started to bounce but found herself puffing her cheeks and squeezing his leg between hers. Her desire to finish her boyfriend off was selfless in its intent, but ignoring the mass surging inside of her was impossible and to not enjoy it would simply be a waste.

Sokka hissed, sucking at the air as Suki picked up her tempo. Angled to his right, the Kyoshi Warrior's position pulled Sokka's shaft to a slight tilt, it only made her sex seem even tighter. He held onto her perfect ass, pushed out from her back as it rolled around and bounced on top of him. As Suki's backside moved upwards, he could see her stretched entrance leave a heavy trail of slick along his manhood and when she came crashing down he felt the skin at his tip peeled back by her narrow constrictions.

Her toes curled and knees knocked. The stuttering finger inside Katara made her whince and her legs shifted from beneath her as she landed on her butt. Her brother's stamina really was something and the promise of seeing him finally climax made Katara burn up inside. Suki's lips parted for a stream of moans as she worked her man to his finish. She pulled a hand off of his knee and cupped the sac beneath her, squeezing it gently, rolling his balls between her fingers.

The pressure inside of him reached a critical mass, Suki's fondling took him to the point of no return. His hold on her ass became a firm grip and his hips made impulsive bucks upwards. His sudden return caused the redhead to cry out, her noises only making his need more urgent. The energy was ripped from every part of his body and surged to his manhood. He yanked Suki's hips down onto him and held on for dear life, exploding inside of her with such force that it made him dizzy. It drained him of everything he had, the leg Suki rested on kicked out straight and she struggled to keep upright. It was near overwhelming, as Sokka's body pumped shot after shot of his thick spill inside of her, Suki felt as though she'd pop. She lifted her self slightly from his weakening grasp to relieve some of the pressure and he started to leak out of her. Turning back to look at Sokka she smiled, he stared aimlessly upwards, his chest heaving, a picture of absolute satisfaction.

With her work done, she removed him from her entirely and fell by his side. Cuddling against him, shimmering together with perspiration, she kissed him sweetly on the cheek. He didn't look at her, he continued to stare into space when he responded with a quiet "Wow."

Katara slowed her playful fingers when it became evident they wouldn't be enough. Her eyes had been opened to a new form of carnal expression. She wanted what Suki had just had, the hard, the fast, the rough, the climax. She was on fire inside and Sokka was the only one who could put her out.

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**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	7. CVII - Third Flashback

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter VII - Third Flashback**

Night set soon after the trio had left the capital. They only managed to make a couple of hours progress before deciding to set up camp. Katara remained unapproachable and had skulked off among the trees to look for firewood. Still angry, her brother had busied himself with putting up the tents, the sky was clear, no tarps. Suki had unfortunately found herself caught somewhere between the siblings, helping when and where she was able.

The smell of meat filled their campsite as Sokka cooked a meal with some cowpig ribs he'd picked up in the Fire Nation capital and begrudgingly accepted some mushrooms and leaves Katara managed to forage. The tribesman handed the food to the girls, his girlfriend was famished and wolfed down her dinner, she was also tierd, being the only one of the three who'd gotten up early for guard duty that morning, so she turned in. Sokka finished his portion before his sister, he wasn't tired but the last thing he wanted to do was stay out by the firelight with her, so he soon followed Suki into their tent. Tucking himself in beside Suki, Sokka forced himself to doze off, hoping tomorrow that Katara would be less aggravating

There was a warmth on his neck and the sound of blowing, something pushed on his chest and pulled him from his slumber. Suki grinned, her face was at the crook of his neck, rubbing under his shirt with her fingers.

"Finally, I thought you'd never wake up."

Already undressed, breasts pressed into Sokka's side and a leg had wrapped itself around his. He couldn't remember ever denying Suki when she'd wanted him before but at this moment, he felt he couldn't engage her. Katara's words from earlier played on his mind, about her hearing them before the Comet, her tent was only a few feet away and there was a good chance they'd wake her up, it was too weird. Suki's hand slid downwards, out of his shirt and under the hem of his pants. He sighed when the redhead stroked him, her breath on his skin making him shiver. Why did Katara have to bring that up? He'd be enjoying himself otherwise, he was doing all of this for her benefit anyway, he didn't understand what was so important about her spirit mumbo jumbo at the South Pole. Sokka rolled on his side, away from Suki, he wasn't going to torture himself if he'd already made his mind up that nothing would be happening tonight.

His girlfriend had other ideas though, slinking her arms around him and pressing her bare body against his. Suki could make a pretty good guess at what had upset Sokka so much today but she'd ask him anyway, as she caressed his thigh.

"What's wrong, Sokka?"

Her breath was at the back of his ear.

"Is it Katara? Do you wish she wasn't here?"

Her fingers threaded around his length, slowly sliding over the skin.

"Or do you wish she was right here?"

Sokka's eyes flung wide open and he wrenched himself from her hold. Still facing away from her, he pulled a sheet over himself.

"Drop it."

The redhead sighed, she could usually tease Sokka out of most bad moods but this was clearly something deeper seated than that. She went to him again, embracing him once more but this with her arms tightly around his chest.

"I'm sorry... I don't know what happened between you and Katara and I wish you'd tell me."

The tribesman softened to her, he was to blame for Suki misjudging him, he'd been in a huff all day and she couldn't help if he didn't speak. The Kyoshi Warrior snuggled closer to him.

"But whatever it is, I know that you'll make up sooner or later, you two can't stay mad at each other for long."

Leaning over her boyfriend, Suki put a hand under his cheek, turning his head and forcing him to look at her.

"And no matter what, you can't let this affect us."

She was right, it wasn't Suki's fault that his sister was acting like a brat. It wasn't fair to distance himself from his girlfriend just because of a few spiteful words from Katara. He smiled and he brought his face to hers and kissed her on the nose.

Suki giggled and before she knew it, Sokka had rolled her naked body on her back. His hands were fast and roaming, rubbing, holding, squeezing her. The redhead gasped at her boyfriend's sudden determination. Sokka yanked his pants down to his thighs, not bothering with any further undress than necessary. His pressed himself against Suki and entered her, the first moan escaping her lips. Sokka fucked her hard, touching all the places that made her scream the loudest, making absolutely sure that his sister heard them.

Each scream was like a slap in the face. Katara curled up in her tent and pulled her pillow over her ears, tears in her eyes. Sokka was such a jerk and he sounded so ridiculous, grunting, growling making Suki moan like that. So why then, was it making Katara burn up like that? Her legs rubbed together, she wasn't supposed to be getting hot like this, she was supposed to be angry at them but each yelp stoked something inside of her.

"Ohh..."

"Ohh..."

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**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	8. CVIII - Katara & Suki

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter VIII - Katara &amp; Suki**

"Ohh!"

Katara was ripped backed to reality by the sound of Sokka's final groan as he climaxed within Suki. She watched the pair before her, time seeming to stop. The waterbender was able to take in every detail of her brother's finish, his clenched eyes and teeth, the strained muscles in his arms, the fingers dug into Suki's backside, the look of absolute fulfillment on the Kyoshi's Warrior's face, the sweaty gleam from their bodies.

And then it was over. He dropped, like a stone, lifeless onto the sheets. Suki joined him and kissed his cheek. Sokka murmured something too weak for Katara to pick up. The brunette was ravenous, feeling so empty and as she looked at her brother, exhausted with his heaving chest, she felt slightly cheated. Those positions, all that energy that had gotten her so worked up had been sapped away inside of Suki while Katara was left there only to observe. She really didn't get what the redhead saw in all this audience stuff, it was torture.

Sokka was still trying to get air into his empty lungs when Suki moved. Her hand slinked over his chest and splayed into the sheet. The Kyoshi Warrior rose over Sokka and swung her right leg to his far side, trapping his hips between her knees. Her auburn locks cloaked his view from everything but her when she kissed him between his panting. Her belly dropped to his, Sokka's member pressed between them as she writhed. Suki's lips went to the tribesman's ear.

"Just relax..."

He closed his eyes, awaiting Suki's touch, giving her total freedom. The tribesman felt his girlfriend lift her body and then... disappear. Looking up, he saw her getting off of him and walking away, not at all what he had been expecting. As raring as he was, Suki knew that Sokka was spent. She could tell he needed some recovery time from the depth of his breathing and the heat that he'd left, which was now leaking from her, it was filthy but it set Suki off like a bomb. Now that she didn't have to worry about getting her boyfriend off, her own urges came bounding back to the forefront of her mind, she'd reignited the spark when she rode him to completion and now he'd become unable to sate her.

Katara still stared at them as Suki stood up. The Kyoshi Warrior was so graceful and assured in her stride that she hardly seemed real to the waterbender as she neared. Suki placed a hand on Katara's shoulder, grabbing her attention. She looked down to Katara with a caring smile. The brunette's belly felt like it was made of lead, the redhead's gaze was full of purpose, there was no mistaking her intention, the humidity became stifling.

Suki knelt down in front of and slightly to the right of Katara, her back facing Sokka. The Kyoshi Islander's palm on Katara's shoulder burned her skin, as if it was branding her. The brunette didn't know what to do so she shrugged, shaking the hand off. Katara broke her gaze with the Kyoshi Warrior and looked down.

"Suki..."

Apprehension was to be expected. Suki might have noticed how Katara's eyes lit up as she watched her and Sokka together but it was obvious that this was virgin territory for the waterbender and no amount of intrigue could truly quash that fear of the unknown when faced with it. Suki remembered her first time with Choro, how she was an absolute wreck of nerves, terrified about what to touch and what not to touch, how hard was too hard and how soft was too soft, and that was after weeks of becoming closer to the older girl than she had ever been with anybody at that point in her life. Katara and her were good friends but they didn't have anything like that sort connection, so Suki knew she'd be wise to keep things fairly light, she didn't want to scare the waterbender off.

The redhead held Katara's chin with the hand she'd just loosened from her shoulder and brought the brunette's face up so that their eyes met. The Kyoshi Warrior hushed her words so that the guy behind her wouldn't hear them.

"Just follow my lead. Trust me, this is the quickest way to get him back in the game."

Katara felt the hair being brushed from her cheek as Suki placed her lips there. She remained largely unconvinced but somewhat less nervous, at least Suki wasn't expecting her to know what she was doing, that took a lot of the pressure off. The waterbender looked past the redhead and towards her brother to gauge his reaction, if what she'd said was true and that this was a fast way of building him back up to how he was before, so that she might taste what he'd given to Suki, then this might just be worth it. A great smile grew across Katara's face that desperately held back a big laugh, Sokka's eyes were near unblinking as he stared at her and Suki. He was lead down, leaning over on one arm to look at them, his mouth hung ever so slightly open. She had to hand it to Suki, she did know what her brother wanted.

As Katara's eyes caught Sokka's, her smile sharpened into a smirk, she was going to have fun with this. The waterbender ran her fingers up the back of Suki's neck, lacing them through the girl's auburn hair. The Kyoshi Warrior was a little taken aback, she hadn't at all expected Katara to be so forward but there was no chance she'd try and steal this impetus from her friend. Katara tilted her face just to the right, holding her focus on Sokka's eyes, she pressed her palm to the back of Suki's head, beckoning the redhead forward. The Kyoshi Warrior obeyed and met Katara's waiting lips with her own, just brushing them at first, then pecking before Katara leaned in for a fully mouthed kiss.

The brunette saw her brother's jaw drop as she kissed his girlfriend. Katara didn't really pay too much attention to the strangeness of kissing another girl, she was having far too much fun seeing Sokka react to it all. All she could say of the experience was that kissing Suki certainly wasn't anything like kissing Sokka, if anything, it was a little bit more like kissing -No, she didn't want to think about that.

The Islander's soft lips surrendered to Katara and, for a moment, the waterbender basked in the effect she was having on both her brother and her friend. Being adventurous and seizing the initiative, the brunette suddenly found herself dictating the pace. She held her kiss with Suki and looked to her brother, he'd closed his gaping mouth and rested back a little, he wanted more and Katara, showing her inexperience, didn't know how to proceed. Suki pounced on the southerner's trepidation, wrestling back control with her tongue, Sokka's focus was regained fully as his sister's gaze turned from a half-lidded taunt to wide-eyed surprise. The redhead's tongue dominated the brunette's, Suki had been enjoying Katara's beginner's confidence but now it was time to show her pupil how it was really done.

Suki grabbed Katara's right arm by the wrist, she was met at first with some hesitation but the Southern girl soon complied, allowing the redhead to pull her hand around to her pale colored backside. Sokka sat up a little as he saw his sister's palm come to rest on his girlfriend's ass. There was a deep contrast between the earthy, brown hand and the porcelain cheek it held. Katara's fingers twitched, not knowing how strong their grip should be. The feel of Suki's butt in her grasp was odd to Katara but not unpleasant. She'd broken her kiss with the redhead and her staring contest with her brother when her hand had been placed there, now she looked to Suki's gorgeous violet eyes for instruction. The Kyoshi Warrior simply nodded and, when Katara squeezed, bit her lip. She felt Suki's guiding hand once more on her shoulder, rubbing with encouragement as the waterbender started to roll the soft flesh under her palm.

Suki arched her back and began flexing her round backside in view of Sokka. She raised her hips slightly and leaned forward, giving him fleeting glimpses of her wet nether lips that still dripped with his spend. Sokka felt himself began to stir as the girls continued their petting, soon, simply watching them wouldn't suffice. Suki's hand left Katara's shoulder and trailed upwards, fingers cupping the back of the brunette's neck and pulling her in for another feisty kiss. The Kyoshi girl's tongue swirled against Katara's as she released her neck and glid her fingers down and down along the southerner's body. When Suki's touch reached Katara's chest, with fingers dancing softly against the brown skin, she felt Katara sigh into her mouth. A fingertip graced her stiffened nipple and Suki pinched the bud between the the base of two fingers as she took hold of Katara's breast. The mound was soft and the flesh oozed between her digits as she squeezed. Caressing Katara's tit, Suki took note of the feel and heft of it. Katara's were larger, heavier and softer than hers, not by much but the difference was noticeable, what Suki felt they lacked was the firmness and perkiness of her own breasts.

The eyes of the waterbender shut. She started to drift into the gentle care with which Suki was touching her chest. The Kyoshi Warrior made slow, circular movements with her wrist, tightening and loosening her grip on the soft mound, arching one of the fingers that rested against the sensitive nub back and forth to rub up and down it. Katara clenched her hand, embracing as much of Suki's ass as she could. She was rewarded with redhead's throat humming and she leaned deeper into their kiss, returning the tight squeeze with interest.

Sokka watched a drop of saliva escape the girls' kiss and land on his sister's body, it trickled down to the valley of her bosom and left a faint trail all the way down her skin, over her smooth, brown belly before pooling in her navel. He saw the shuffling of his girlfriend's back, her taut shoulder muscles rising to her skin as she slipped her left arm beneath the arm the Katara was clutching at her backside with, and held the brunette at the waist. Suki scooted her body closer to the waterbender, so close that her knee was directly beneath the southern girl.

The Kyoshi Warrior's tongue attacked, pushing Katara's back into her own mouth and pinning it down. Suki shifted her weight onto her left leg and held balance as she lifted her right knee from the bedding. Katara nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt the redhead's kneecap pushing against her soft crease, she hadn't been expecting any sort of touch down there, never mind the bluntness of a whole limb. The waterbender was hot, Suki heard her excitement in moans into her mouth and felt it smear against her leg as she assaulted both sets of Katara's lips. The brunette arched her back, pressing her chest deeper into Suki's grope, the knee that traced the line of her slit was causing her baser instincts to take control again. The rubbing between her legs was clumsy and crude, a knee doesn't afford the same degree of finesse as the more dextrous ends of the body, but it was still causing excitement to bubble within her core and push primal sounds out of her mouth.

The tribesman could feel his body rousing as he saw Suki rub herself againt his sister's womanhood, Katara's moans began escaping the kiss and each one he heard caused his heart to beat just a little harder. The tension in Katara's body was slowly building as Suki kneaded her tender lips, the tip of the redhead's leg was becoming slick with Katara's juices, tracing her opening from the blushing base to the delicate crest. Managing her breathing became too arduous and the waterbender broke their kiss, resting her forehead against Suki's. Pushing and writhing with her knee against Katara's center, The Kyoshi Warrior hand clamped on Katara's breast and wrung her nipple between fingers. Katara's lips hung open, free to sound as loud as they wanted, Suki was lavishing them with hungry, passionate licks, lapping up her wet moans and balmy breath.

Sokka got up from the sheets, the noises his girlfriend was causing Katara to make triggered a response within him he could no longer deny. His sister's eyes remained firmly closed but Suki turned to see his approach, Sokka's gaze was focused directly on them, his cock hanging between his legs. Suki shot him a playful grin before making way for him. Katara barely had time to note the redhead's absence before she felt her brother's hand cup her cheek. She found his deep, blue eyes closing in on her and threw herself into his embrace, kissing him hard. Now she would have him.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	9. CIX - Fourth Flashback

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter IX - Fourth Flashback**

It was the morning after their first night on the road. As Sokka stumbled out of his tent, emerging from the darkness in the pair of pants he'd lazily thrown on, he spotted his sister, already up and dressed. She sat on the far side of the burned out fireplace, staring away from him and upwards towards the heavens. The tribesman followed her line of sight, to see what it was she was looking at but he couldn't find anything of particular interest in the bright sky apart from the clouds, and clouds are just clouds. As he brough his eyes back down to Katara, he felt a twinge of regret over last night, there was something upsetting her and although he remained insistent that he and Suki had every right to do what they wanted together, being so blatant about it wasn't likely to put his little sister in the best of moods.

Sokka felt a hand on his back as Suki groggily followed him out of their den. She stood beside her boyfriend and rubbed her eyes while giving a loud yawn that grabbed Katara's attention. The waterbender glared in their direction, the pair stretched and shook themselves loose, Sokka wasn't wearing a top, Suki was only wearing a top, their hair was ruffled and unkempt, sticking out at all sorts of odd angles, they looked as though they hadn't gotten much sleep but Katara already knew that. They could be so immature, her face ruffled and she turned away, the brunette didn't want them see how much they got to her.

Sokka started towards his sister while he left Suki to try and sort her hair out. He could hear Katara sniff and saw her wiping her face, he hoped she wasn't wiping tears though he could tell she was still feeling down. The morning had put Sokka in a more sympathetic mood and he was ready to play the big brother now.

He approached her from behind, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey."

Katara quickly shrugged his hand from her, not wanting him touching her with those hands, she didn't know where they'd been. Sokka sighed defeatedly.

"Listen, we're going to be moving into an open plain with no trees, Suki's going into the wood to get some firewood and I think it'd be best if you went with her while I pack up and clean camp."

Katara didn't say anything, she simply turned back and looked at her brother with a cocked eyebrow, making him laugh lightly.

"Yeah, I know. Me, cleaning. I just thought it would be good to put some space between us for a while. Y'know, what with how we've been lately."

Katara's head seemed to spin around in Sokka's direction, she leered at her brother with an angled brow and mouth hung open in disbelief.

"How we've been, Sokka? How we've been? Is that how your putting it? 'Cause last night, I don't remember what we were like, but I definitely recall you. All I wanted was a decent night's sleep."

Katara turned away again. Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned, maybe he could have worded that one better.

"Yeah, okay, I'm sorry, I am. Not that you can tell me and Suki what to do but... what I did last night was wrong and I'm sorry for that."

Sokka couldn't see but Katara smiled a little, he waited for some sort of response and she simply nodded to let him know he was kind of off the hook. That was a little relief.

"I still thinks it's best you go with Suki though, have some girl time, talk about... sewing? I don't know."

She couldn't help but chuckle to herself, her brother was so clueless, he'd never been the best groveler but this attempt had been particularly clumsy, it was time to let him out of his misery. She stood up and bid him a "Fine." before heading to her tent. An apology was nice and all but it did nothing for her tiredness and the idea of spending the morning with Suki wasn't exactly something Katara was looking forward to, their was no reason the Kyoshi Warrior couldn't have made her amends, she was making most of the noise after all.

As Katara made her way to her tent, Sokka spotted the dish she'd been eating from the night before, all the greens had gone but the ribs looked untouched. That wasn't like his sister at all, it wasn't how the children of the Southern Water Tribe were raised. Perhaps it was out of spite because he'd gone to the effort of cooking them but even that seemed petty for Katara.

* * *

The girls had been in the forest for the best part of an hour, they could have quite easily gotten enough firewood already but Suki was determined to make some sort of meaningful conversation with Katara before they headed back to camp. So far, she'd only managed to coax a few words form the waterbender, mostly on the subject of firewood, not a topic particularly dear to Suki's heart. Any attempts to discuss her own time in the Fire Nation were met with indifference, and trying to talk about Katara's time in the North was returned with single word answers. Suki knew Katara was upset with Sokka about something but she didn't want to be shut out because of it, she wanted to help.

Knowing there'd been some friction between them, Suki had been wary of the subject but she was running out of topics.

"So, have you heard anything from Aang?"

The Kyoshi Warrior heard the distinct timbre of wood banging against wood behind her. She span around to find Katara, crouched down, picking up her dropped bundle. The southerner's hair shielded her eyes as she stared at the ground.

"... Nothing."

Katara locked up, frozen in her squat. She was able to restrain the tears like this but felt as though they would all come pouring out of her if she moved as much as an inch. Suki's instincts kicked in and she dropped her timber and raced over to her friend, the pieces coming together as she made an attempt to comfort her.

"Hey hey hey. Katara, what's wrong? You and Aa-... oh..."

Suki dropped to the southern girl's level and embraced her in a hug, Katara sobbed on Suki's shoulder.

"W-we broke up."

This all came as a shock to Suki, whenever she saw Katara with Aang they always seemed so sweet together. She'd heard about Katara's annoyance over how little time they got together since the Avatar had began dedicating himself to the Acolytes but never thought it was anything serious. Suki had had arguments with her boyfriend when she had decided to work in the Fire Nation as well as over a lot of other inane, silly things but they always more than made up with each other, the idea of breaking up with Sokka over those spats barely ever crossed her mind. Katara wasn't the same as she was though, Katara was an idealist, she had a vision of how things should be and wouldn't tolerate any deviations but the Kyoshi Warrior also knew how much Katara craved security, to a lesser degree she saw it in Sokka as well. Suki put it down largely to them losing their Mom in the way they did, Katara in particular had hang ups about committing herself emotionally. It had been why she'd taken so long to confess her love to Aang in the first place, with the threat of the Fire Nation still looming, it was easier suppress her feelings than it was to risk losing somebody else she loved to the war. The redhead suspected it was Katara who made the call, Aang had longed after the waterbender for too long to ever break up with her, Katara on the other hand might have nipped a problem in the bud before it became too painful.

Suki pulled away and brought the brunette's face up to look at her, dabbing away Katara's tears with her sleeve.

"Oh, sweetie, you should have told me earlier. You should have told me and Sokka, you wouldn't have fallen out like this if he understood what had happened."

Katara's face soured at the mention of her brother.

"Yeah right, like he'd care. Sokka would just be happy about never having to worries about 'oogies' again."

She teared up again and Suki pulled her into another hug, holding her tightly.

"Hey, I know he can be a pain, trust me but he's your brother. He's there for you, we both are."

Katara didn't say a word but Suki felt her hug returned more tightly, the waterbender seemed a little more reassured after those words so Suki felt it best to continue in that vein.

"He told me how close you two were before you left the South Pole, he cares about you more than he lets on."

The wind in Katara's lungs turned sharp and cold, her throat felt like it had swollen up. He'd told Suki? How much? What did she know? Katara could feel her blood begin to boil and the tears building once more, she couldn't deal with this right now, her voice turned sharp and direct.

"What did he say?"

Suki pulled away and looked at her again, she could see Katara welling up again. The Kyoshi Warrior felt a little panicked, she hadn't meant anything by her words, she just wanted to show Katara that Sokka loved her.

"No, it's... Listen, I'm not judging anyone, that stuff doesn't matter. It's that Sokka cares about you, he understands you."

Katara felt like a pit had opened up inside her and swallowed everything up. She pushed the redhead out of her way and stood up.

"What?! I don't care about that! If he understood me, he wouldn't be bragging about mistakes we made when we were scared kids!"

Suki looked up at her friend, her teeth were bared and tears streamed down her face. Inside, Suki was kicking herself for messing this up so badly.

"No! It wasn't like tha-"

"I don't wanna hear it!" Katara cut her off, her fists clenching.

"You're as bad as he is." Her words struggled as she felt herself overflowing. "... The both of you... You're sick!"

She bolted. Suki saw her run of in the direction they'd come from. She called out for Katara, getting up off the ground, trying to grab as much firewood as she could before giving chase but by the time she was on her feet Katara was gone, vanished into the forest, though Suki already knew where she was headed.

* * *

Back at the camp, Sokka had almost completely packed away. The tents had been cleared and taken down and most of the bags were ready, all that needed sorting were some of Suki and Katara's things that he'd leave for them to do. In need of a wash, Sokka had taken the time away from the girls to clean himself in the nearby water, his hair was wet and loose when he spotted his sister emerging from the woods, perfect timing.

He moved his hands around in a crude imitation of her bending style.

"Hey, Katara! Could you dry my hair out for me?"

She didn't respond, just marched in a straight line towards him. The tribesman found that just a little worrying.

"Katara? What's up?"

The waterbender stopped about a dozen yards in front of her brother and placed one foot before the other. She stretched out her arms and spread her fingers, before sweeping one hand around in a long arc, passed the back of head and bringing it back out in front of her. Her hands then spiralled each other, spinning to her left, carrying of the momentum of the arm she'd just swung around her head before both of Katara's hands flew out in front of her again, fingers pointing to the ground and arms rising upwards.

She drew a powerful wall of water from behind Sokka. Katara balled her fists and pulled her outstretched arms inwards, towards the core of her body, rocking back a step as she did so. The liquid column came crashing over her brother, knocking him down and drenching him to the bone.

Sokka was by no means an expert on bending, but he was quite confident that what his sister had just done was not, infact, drying his hair. He picked his face up from the wet turf, his clothes were soaked through and his ears were ringing from the assault. He looked at Katara, her face was full of rage, Sokka didn't really see what she had to be so upset about in this scenario.

"What is wrong with you?!"

That was rich, coming from him. Katara watched the tribesman scramble to his feet, the water dripping from him, she had half a mind to knock him over again but felt a torrent of abuse might be more effective than a torrent of water this time.

"You're what's wrong with me! You and her!" Katara pointed vaguely into the woods. "Telling her about us, talking behind my back! You make me sick, Sokka! She tried to convince me you actually cared about me but then you just blab about that!"

Her eyes welled up once more. "Why does every guy I trust have to let me down?"

In Sokka's mind, it finally clicked. Katara saw him approaching her, slowly. His eyes searched for hers, his face didn't any bear malice, but she still didn't want him anywhere near her. She threw her hands up, drawing two floating spheres of water to ward him off but he didn't stop. The waterbender could feel her breathing hitch as he came closer. She backed off slightly but it was no use. Sokka pulled his sister into a tight hug.

"It's okay to be upset about Aang."

Those two water balls melted. At first, she tried pushing him away but the more his words sank in, the weaker her efforts became. It became to much for Katara, she cried against her big brother like she had so many times when they were younger. Her hands clutched to him, squeezing the water out of his clothes, her tears became nothing against the already soaked fabric.

When Suki finally made it out of the forest, she stood on the edge of the woodland and looked across what was left of their campsite. She saw the siblings embracing each other, Sokka rocked Katara gently, Suki could hear her sobbing. The redhead felt terible for them but, in the state Katara had left her, she had expected things to have been much, much worse.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	10. CX - Katara & Sokka Again

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter X - Katara &amp; Sokka Again**

Suki watched them in the tent, as close together now as they had been then in camp. Katara was still in something of a daze from the attention Suki had just given her body, her brother, on the other hand, was a figure of alertness. The brunette had began resting on her knees, but her legs splayed slightly and her butt had fallen between her ankles and onto the sheets. She hung limply, suspended by the hands of her brother, holding her cheeks. Sokka leaned down to Katara, she hungrily accepted his mouth when it pressed against hers. There was no finesse to their kiss, only passion that manifested in brushing lips and gliding tongues. Suki sat herself down to their side and got comfy. Scanning her boyfriend, she saw that he had grown solid, his length pulsing with need. Katara raised a hand to her brother's side, feeling his bare skin beneath her touch, savoring the feel of his body, needing so much more of it.

The tribesman dropped to his knees before his sister. On the same level, they looked deeply again to each other, face to face. Suki could have sworn the siblings were near reflections of each other, the same skin, the same eyes, the same breath. Sokka dipped his head and advanced towards Katara, filling his senses with her, kissing her neck, tasting her, smelling her, feeling her. She threw her arms around him and cradled his head to the crook of her neck. The heat of that familiar breath on her body made sparks ignite deep within, she hated it when they fell out but Sokka more than knew how to get back on her good side. His hands went to her flanks, tracing her outline, he felt the swell of her hips beneath his fingertips and the softness of her midriff. Thumbs coming to brush the underside of her breasts, Katara shivered.

Sokka's mind swam with the sensations of his sister, there was something soothing about her that doused the instincts to reach his limits, that raw feistiness that Suki brought out in him wasn't there with Katara. When he was with her, he was all things affectionate and sweet but Katara's urges had been awoken, she wanted that intensity. Just a taste, just this once.

He moved, his lips glancing against her collarbone, leaving just the faintest trail of where they had been on her skin. A hand planted itself against Katara's belly and Sokka pushed her back gently. The waterbender shifted firmly onto her backside, taking one hand from off of her brother and placing it behind her to lean back on, her legs came up with her knees risen in front of her and her feet squarely on the bedding. Sokka edged towards the waterbender as she angled backwards, Katara's breathing became heavier as she felt his mouth move downwards. He had one hand balled into the sheets at her side and the other holding her at the hip, the salt of her skin and and the sound of her stuttering gasps drove him southwards. He found the centre of Katara's chest, kissing her there and hearing her gasp. His eyes were closed as he swayed to his right, slowly hovering along her breast, peppering it with light pecks, drifting ever closer to its summit.

His open mouth hung just over the firm peak. Katara felt the vapors of his breath, warm with excitement, swirling aorund her nipple. Sokka made the first real contact with his tongue, passing his lips and landing it on the underside of the pinkish flesh which surrounded her zenith. Katara sighed when it pressed into her skin, drawing upwards with agonizing slowness, her nipple dragged along with the labored lick before flicking down and being caught on his bottom lip.

With the broadest of grins on her face, Suki watched on from the sidelines. She still felt so lucky to see them this intimately. Ever since Sokka had revealed the measure of his relationship with Katara, there was a guilty part of Suki which desperately wanted to be a part of their sin, she could never have dreamt that her desires would be realized so soon or so vividly.

Bed sheets clenched between her fingers, the brunette closed her eyes and hummed to the rhythm of Sokka lapping at her breast. Her thigh muscles tightened when the tip of his tongue flicked the end of the sensitive bud. Between her legs, Katara felt that burning need twinge and bubble, she was feeling starved and hollow, an urge to be fulfilled.

When Sokka kissed her summit, Katara's head rolled back. His lips enveloped the nub, the wet heat of his mouth was near stifling. She felt something else, the hand on her hip coursing upwards, his palm catching along her sticky skin. Her brother's fingertips danced across the surface of her right breast and took the mound in his grasp as he rolled it. Katara's tit was tender and soft, more so than Suki's, he could press it against her body and ooze the flesh between his fingers. He toyed with her right breast while he ran circles around her left nipple with his tongue, feeling his sister's chest heave beneath his servicing.

To hear Katara's moans when he began to suckle at her teat like a child made Suki flare. The southern girl was so sensitive that Sokka barely had to try in order to draw a heady noise from her. The influence he exerted over the waterbender's body burned Suki up, the evidence of her own messing around with Katara was still fresh on her knee but what turned her on the most wasn't the volume of the moans she was hearing, it was the thought of how much louder they might be when Sokka didn't hold back.

The waterbender felt her brother's teeth graze her skin as he began to sink downwards. The air left Katara's lungs completely when motioned south, both of them knowing precisely what was to come next but Sokka taking his sweet time getting there. He worshiped her belly, kissing it, licking it, taking the brown skin between his lips and teeth. Inside, her body screamed for her brother to hurry up but the sounds she was making told a very different story.

Sokka eyes peeked open when he felt his sister's thighs against his cheeks. He was met with the blushing slit of her sex, glistening with arousal, begging for him. He peered upwards, over her middle, that rose and fell with anticipation, her bosom, still half wet from his affections and towards her face, staring down at him, urging him to satisfy her. Sokka returned her pleas with a smirk and just hovered above her entrance. Impatient, Katara took a hand from behind her and brought it around to the back of the tribesman's head, tugging on him, pulling him closer. He pursed his lips and blow on her, she groaned, only feeling the threat of him against her body, his teasing was becoming unbearable and the thought of bloodbending him crossed her mind, if only there was a full moon.

Just when the brunette felt like yanking his face into her, he motioned forward. Lips met lips and Katara's breath faltered. Sokka shifted his knees back and straightened out, he wrapped an arm under her thigh and went from hunching over to lying, more or less, between his sister's legs, leaving some breathing space for the delicate extension on his underside. He kissed her again, this time just left of center. The tribesman made a series of light pecks down along that side of her opening and when he reached the bottom of her slit, back up along the other. Sometimes sucking at her skin, somtimes just glancing her with his lips, sometimes dabbing at her wetness with his tongue, there was no pattern to his touches but each sensation was rich and intense and each made Katara moan in surprise as much as in pleasure.

Suki saw Katara's toes curl as Sokka began to bury his head between her legs. The Kyoshi Warrior felt just a pang of jealousy that it wasn't her in the waterbender's position, there were few things in the world Suki enjoyed more than Sokka going down on her. The tip of his tongue met the base of Katara's womanhood, nudging its way passed her outermost folds before flicking upwards along her crease. Her heavy scent had filled Sokka's senses as now did her taste, there was something in that nectar which her excited body gave off that drove Sokka mad, a stimulus to lap at her for more that he was happy to oblige. Her petals parted each time for his thirsty tongue, which drew along her from bottom to top, each lick sending a shiver to Katara's toes and a moan to her mouth.

When he reached her apex, Katara almost did the same. Her brother brought his fingers between his face and her body and spread her center, the hood receded and Katara's bead was brought into the open. There was electricity under the skin when his lips brushed her there. His fingertips coursed up and down her wet crease, coating themselves in the slick as his tongue gently edged its way around delicate bud. Unlike the the rest of her womanhood, Sokka avoiding the dead center of her crown wasn't teasing, it was expertise. Katara's moans grew louder and longer, that buzzing deep within her fueled by the spiraling sensations of her brother's tongue.

Then, he took her whole and open mouthed, covering every aspect of her intimacy with his lips. The steam of Sokka's breathing on her, near into her, only caused her own breath to capitulate. Empty lungs begged for air and Katara gave a failed screech when his tongue made its entrance. The tribesman slithered his way deeper, that dextruous undulation provoking her sex in ways it wasn't build to withstand. His lips pampered her opening like it was another mouth, caressing the her clit in gentle waves. Each lap of his tongue was like the blast of a bellows inside of her, fueling that greedy heat that threatened to consume her. Katara cried his name on stammering breaths.

Her finger's laced into the hair on her brother's head. She clutched at him, maybe even nipping some skin but she couldn't tell. Katara tugged on him, grinding the strands between her fingers in rhythm with her moaning. Sokka swirled his tongue. His sister screamed and yanked on his hair. He scrunched his eyes and groaned into her as she pulled his wolftail out. The tribesman's hair fell to frame his sides, sweeping against the inside of Katara's thighs, it would have tickled a lot more were her senses not being diverted more centrally.

These were the noises that Suki had been waiting for. Katara's hurried panting came in short, rapid bursts, building towards crescendoes in the form of a high pitched scream or a failed attempt to say her brother's name. The waterbender's body ached for more, her hips writhed beneath Sokka's assault and pressed up into his face. The tribesman felt her walls tighten around his tongue as he made an attempt to delve deeper, her flushed thighs pressed against his cheeks and her fingers pulled on his hair. Sokka knew she was reaching her climax and angled his tongue to the roof of her channel in hope that he's push Katara way over the edge.

Katara abandoned all attempts at sentient communication, the only sounds she made were loud groans and quivering whimpers. From where Suki was knelt, the brunette sure seemed to be in her happy place. The Kyoshi Warrior focused her energies on recollecting the sensation of Sokka's tongue inside her body and though her memory was good, she felt a more visual demonstration might help. Seeing Sokka bury his face into Katara stirred the redhead's need immensely but her sight line to the main event was blocked by the lucky recipient's leg and, though Suki was already very close to the loving couple, she was sure they wouldn't mind her coming just a little nearer. Shuffling over to the pair, Suki lay her body along side her boyfriend's. She peered over his shoulder, his attention held undivided as he ate his sister's opening, when she kissed his neck, she could feel the muscles there pushing and pulling as he licked his way in and out of Katara. The brunette's center ran wet with a mixture of moistures, her voice rang in the incomprehensible language of ecstasy and Suki made up her mind that she was absolutely going to be next, no matter how worn out Sokka's mouth would be. Suki was going to have her fill, or more accurately, he was.

The Kyoshi Warrior got up off of her boyfriend and made her way to the tent's exit, the stream was only on the other side of the camp and it would be rude not to freshen up a little first before asking him to take another plunge, she reckoned Sokka might show a little more enthusiasm if he didn't have to taste himself down there. There was a little of disappointment in Suki that she'd miss seeing Katara hit the high notes but she was sure she'd be able to hear them from the water.

Sokka brought a hand up to his sister's thumping chest and pushed on her. At first, she resisted, she was perfectly satisfied with her current position and her body urged her not to move for fear that any abrupt change might upset that blissful momentum her brother's tongue was building deep inside. She felt her depths plundered further and his teeth graze lightly just above her delicate nub. Katara's defiance crumbled around the determined thrusting of Sokka's tongue and she found herself being guided onto her back by his arm.

Sokka linked his arms atop Katara's now flat stomach, wrapping them around both her thighs, it gave him a firm purchase on her body with which to gain better access to her hungry sex. Lying on her back, Katara was spread even wider for her brother and his tongue took her to the precipice of her limits as it burrowed further within her. Her back arched, or at least it tried to, Sokka's firm grip on her stomach pushed her back to earth as her body tried to rise. His arms tightened around her, locking everything from below her chest and down to her thighs in place. Every writhe and budge was supressed by his hold as he lavished her burning center with his mouth. Her pleasure was seeking alternate outlets, Katara's moans became ever louder, near screams, her fingers almost tore the bedding to shreds and her legs began to kick up in the air. It wasn't enough, the rising pressure was amplified by her brother holding her body so tightly. Like a covered pot being brought to boil, without any suitable vent to escape from, the heat inside of Katara seemed to rise exponentially.

Caught in the sensations between the struggle of her body and his, Katara came and came hard. Her vision went cloudy with the steam from that overboiling pot. Each sizzling wave washed over her skin, spreading out from where Sokka's mouth touched her body. She could barely hear herself call out his name, as all her other senses seemed to dull in the all encompassing glow of her orgasm. When she came to, her thirsty lungs were gasping for air and her pumping blood thundered around her ears. Katara peeked down her body to find her brother staring at her with a look full of amazement, if not just a little bit of worry. Maybe she had been a little exuberant in her climax but she had no way of knowing, nor did she care. Besides, if he was worried, it was all his fault anyway.

Suki's face bore a huge grin as she cleaned her naked body in the cool, night's stream. Katara's screams rang clearly over the ambient sounds of rustling leaves and running water. The redhead beamed at the thought of being next, her anticipation becoming more and more difficult to keep under control.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	11. CXI - Fifth Flashback, part 1

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter XI - Fifth Flashback, part 1**

Katara sobbed and sobbed against her big brother, Suki was standing on the periphary of the forest, wanting ever so much to help but knowing that this was something they needed to be alone for.

After Katara's crying quietened and giving them what felt like an appropriate amount of time to reconcile, the Kyoshi Warrior made her emergence from the woodlands apparent. She helped the siblings finish packing up before Sokka lead them off again, down stream and in search of their final campsite. As they walked, Suki noted that Katara was beginning to seem more like her old self, the tribesman seemed a little preoccupied in trying to fathom his maps but still made time to check how his little sister was holding up and did his best to make sure Suki knew he hadn't forgotten about her, holding her hand when he wasn't juggling sheetfuls of cartography. Katara was still a little down in the dumps but certainly wasn't as angry as she had been, which the redhead found to be at least more approachable.

Daydreaming just a little, Suki's arm jolted as her boyfriend came to a sudden stop. She turned to Sokka to see what was up but couldn't really gauge too much pertinent information from the goofy smile plastered on his face. She followed his line of sight to see what he was so happy about but their surroundings didn't seem too exceptional. Sure, the Fire Nation countryside was pretty but Sokka was never particularly the at-one-with-nature kind of guy.

Katara came up along side them, she too was searching for some sort of explanation to the unexpected hold up.

"Why've we stopped?"

Both girls turned to the guy between them, for only he held the answers. His eyes shone so widely that Suki could swear she saw stars in them, his grin grew somehow even wider. The Kyoshi Warrior could feel her breath draw short in anticipation for the mysteries he was sure to reveal.

"This is it..."

And with that he bounded off, pulling off his boots and leaping straight into the stream before either of the girls could react.

They raced to the water's edge where Sokka had dropped his luggage, he stood knee deep in the water, fiddling with with his bag, his tongue sticking out to the side as he hurriedly dug around for something. The girls observed him for some sort of explanation but there seemed to be no logical sequence to his frantic emptying of bags and boxes. Suki turned to Katara for answers, she'd always felt that if she herself didn't know what was happening with Sokka then his sister certainly would, but the waterbender's face wore only the same confusion as her own. The redhead felt a more direct approach might help.

"Sokka, what are you doing? What is 'This'?"

Her boyfriend looked back at her as if she were speaking another language, before recognizing that almost all his actions in the last couple of minutes probably made no sense to anybody other than himself. When he went back to routing around in his bags, his girlfriend felt like giving up but not before Sokka pulled out a scroll and stepped up onto the embankment towards them. He unfurled the parchment as Katara and Suki leaned in to take a look.

What he held was an idyllic depiction of the landscape in which they stood, a steady brush had captured their surroundings in meticulous detail. In the painting, the Sun was making its descent and bathed the world in a luscious orange glow. The river reeds bowed in the evening breeze and in the far background, a lone temple stood proudly among the obscured hillside. Suki was bedazzled, each careful stroke build the image up, giving it an incredible sense of depth, Katara felt the painting looked even better than the real thing, which stood all around them. Just off of the picture's center was an old man, he sat by the stream, dressed head to toe in Fire Nation red, fishing. The water rippled around his line, his face was serene and content, an image of relaxation at the end of a long day. Sitting boldly against the gentle hues in the top right-hand corner, two symbols in black caught the girls' eyes, 片刀, Piandao.

Sokka rolled the painting back up as Katara and Suki were beginning to become lost in it, being careful not to to crease or damage it in any way.

"He told me that this is his favorite spot to go fishing in the whole Fire Nation."

The tribesman packed the parchment back away as he retrieved a collection of spearheads from his bag.

"The Eelcarp might not be the biggest but they are supposed to be the tastiest."

He wasn't looking at the girls at all as he spoke, he was too busy selecting which blade to fix atop the lengthy, wooden pole he had pieced together from his supplies.

"So, when I noticed we were crossing this part of the Fire Nation-"

"You decided you'd have us follow this stream until you found this fishing spot without telling us." Katara interrupted.

His sister stood with her hands on her hips, Suki was giggling to herself before she walked over and pecked him on the cheek.

"You can be such a goof sometimes, Sokka, but I love you for it."

The tribesman pouted, as often he did when he felt he was being unfairly accused of being dumb.

"What? I thought it would be a nice surprise."

The Kyoshi Warrior began to laugh harder this time as his sister's eyebrows twitched.

"How exactly is you finding somewhere to fish a nice surprise for us?!"

Suki was still chuckling when she threw an arm around the brunette's shoulders.

"Oh come on, Katara. At least we'll be getting a meal out of it."

The waterbender sighed.

"You're right, I guess this isn't the most self-centered thing he could've done."

Sokka rolled his eyes at Katara's little outrage.

"Right, so if you're finished, I'd like to go catch any of the fish that you didn't just scare off."

It was his sister's turn to pout this time, though as much as she wanted to argue with her brother, she couldn't deny that passing on the meat from last night's meal had left her very hungry.

"They best be as good as you say they are."

Sokka rolled his pant legs back up over his knees and took his spear with him into the stream.

"Trust me, if I know anything, it's good food."

The girls lay out a mat and basked in the glorious sunlight as Sokka headed off up-current. In truth, Katara was relived to catch a break from lugging her share of the camping equipment around in the heat of the Fire Nation. She drew up a cool sliver of water and chilled it around her aching shoulders. As Katara lay down on the mat and relaxed, she began to know just how that old man in Piandao's painting felt, this spot was naturally soothing.

Suki was sat up and looking out over the water, she knew that if she closed her eyes, it would be too easy to doze off and she wanted to properly make amends with her friend while they were alone.

"Katara?" The water bender reply with a hum. "I just wanted you to know, it's probably the last thing you want to be reminded of but I'm sorry for bringing up you and Sokka. It was dumb."

Katara opened her eyes, it was true that she still wasn't best pleased about the redhead knowing about her and her brother but in a way, it was kind of a relief for somebody else to have found out, especially somebody who understood, better for it to be Suki than pretty much anybody else on the planet.

"It's okay, Suki. I'm not as upset as I thought I'd be... and anyway, in the end you were right, Sokka does still care."

The Kyoshi Warrior relaxed, dropping to her back and turning to show Katara the big smile on her face.

"Good, I'm glad we're okay. Oh, and while we're at it, I thought it was really brave of you to tell Sokka about you and Aang breaking up."

The waterbender chuckled to herself.

"I didn't tell him, he already knew."

Suki didn't understand. Sokka had spent the last few days by her side, so he hadn't been in contact with Aang then and even if he had known before, it wouldn't be like him to keep it to himself. Just as Suki opened her mouth to ask Katara how her brother could have known, she was cut off.

With some splashing and a few whoops of excitement, Sokka came hurtling back to the girls, hauling the largest Eelcarp either of them had ever seen. The tribesman's chest heaved, he could barely talk for panting.

"I... I... I... I impress myself... sometimes..."

He lobbed the monster fish on the riverbank and stabbed his spear into the ground, leaning against it to gather his breath. The girls' marveled at Sokka's catch, there would be far too much for them eat in just one sitting, Katara's curiosity got the better of her as she went over to inspect it, she pulled the fish up by its tail. Instantly she understood how Sokka was so worn out, despite its massive size, the Eelcarp was still deceptively heavy. The brunette yanked its body up against her own and found that it almost reached up to her waist when only its face touched the ground, at least they wouldn't be going hungry any time soon.

Sokka made them all a soup from the fish and some herbs they'd been carrying, Piandao had been right, it was good. Really good. Once the trio had had their fill, Suki wrapped what remained of the catch in some large, wild leaves she'd found and attached it to their load before they headed onwards along the stream, walking until the Sun began to set. They pitched camp in a wide open plain, with the stream still within earshot and distant hills bordering their horizon. The three of them lit a fire with the wood Suki had collected in the morning and cooked some more of the fish Sokka had caught. The three of them talked and laughed until the stars twinkled in the skies and the Moon hung above them. Katara told stories about the stuffy old traditionalists whose feathers she and her waterbending classes ruffled, Suki gave a reenactment of Ty Lee's very personal tour of the Fire Nation Royal Palace, which included the slightly off-color patch of carpet which had been replaced after Fire Lord Ozai set ablaze to the original following him standing on one of Zuko's toys and the unused upper tier in one of the armories that overlooked the training courtyard, where Ty Lee and Azula used to sneak away to and watch the guards training without their tops on.

Katara was the most tired of the three, she could barely go a minute without giving a gaping yawn, yet as the night wore on it was Sokka and Suki who decided to turn in first. The tribesman noticed that all too familiar expression on his sister's face, he'd seen it too many times in the years they'd spent together, that fear of being left alone even for the briefest of moments. He figured that he and Suki must have been a pretty good distraction to her thinking about Aang and all the issues that that brought up. Once Katara was by herself, there'd be nothing to stop her from dwelling on her problems concerning that particular Air Nomad.

As he and Suki reached their tent, Sokka leaned down to her ear, whispering.

"Hey, I'm gonna sleep in Katara's tent tonight."

She gave him no reply beyond turning to him with a raised eyebrow and an playful smirk. Sokka grew flustered, he gave his best attempt at a hushed shout, trying to ensure that Katara couldn't hear them.

"You make out like I've got a one-track mind! You're the one who thought about it like that, your mind's one-tracker than mine is!"

She laughed and took his hand in hers while looking at him.

"I'm just kidding, it's sweet that you're looking out after like this. She's your sister and if you think you know what's best for her, I won't stop you. I'll see you in the morning, Sokka."

Suki kissed him on the lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

And with that, she went to their tent as Sokka went back to Katara.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	12. CXII - Fifth Flashback, part 2

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter XII - Fifth Flashback, part 2**

Katara had been staring into the campfire when she was surprised to hear her brother returning back in her direction. She lifted her head to meet his gaze.

"What's up?"

Sokka sat himself down across from her, the light from the dancing flame on his face.

"I just didn't want you out here all by yourself."

She smiled at him, briefly, before casting her eyes down and sighing.

"You don't have to babysit me, you know."

"Hey." He spoke firmly, pulling her attention back on him. "I'm not babysitting anyone, I'm just here for you if you need me, okay? Besides, I already told Suki I'm sleeping in your tent tonight, so it's settled."

His sister's head tilted and she returned a slightly more shocked and confused version of the look Suki had given him just minutes before. This time, he dropped the hushed tone from his voice.

"You too?! Oh, y'know what? Fine, I'll just sleep out here, under the stars. Seeing as I can't be trusted around girls."

The waterbender had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from laughing too loudly. Katara got up and walked around the campfire to sit beside Sokka, placing a hand on her brother's lap to show some sincerity, he had cheered her up.

"No, it's nice. It'll be like old times, back before we found Aa-..."

Her words dried up, she tried to finish that sentence, to finish his name but some force just wouldn't let her. Suddenly, she felt a warmth embrace her. Her big brother slung an arm across her shoulders and when she looked at him, she found those loving, blue eyes. The same ones she'd always been searching for whenever she felt down, for as far back as she could remember.

"... I just don't want to be alone."

He didn't say a word. Sokka held his eyes on hers and Katara found herself sinking deeper into his hold. For the first time in weeks, she felt truly understood, her brother knew her better than anyone and when she was around him, the last thing in the world she felt was alone. Their joined gaze held, his deep stare causing something to rise within her. Her breath shortened and her eyes lidded, she felt herself lean forward as the welling sensation pushed towards her lips.

"YAAAHHHH!"

Sokka stared at his sister in total disbelief before he burst out into laughter. That was a yawn that could have rivalled Appa, he had no idea his sister had the lungs for that.

"I think that's probably a sign to call it a night."

Katara's cheeks ran hot and red. In her defense, it had been a long day. She stood quickly before Sokka had time to notice how rosy her face had become and turned towards the creek. Motioning with a wave like movement with her arms, a steady rise and fall from shoulder to fingertip, a thread of water was pulled from the stream and when the brunette directed it towards the fire, it extinguished the flame in a sizzle.

Sokka let his sister enter the tent first so that she could undress. Katara peeled off her blue tunic and folded it neatly at the foot of the sheets, revealing the sarashi wrappings she wore underneath. As the waterbender inspected her own body she felt a wave of nervousness wash over her, she wasn't wearing any less than Sokka regularly saw her in, this was what she usually had when she bathed after all and, had this been at home at the South Pole, it would have been tradition for them to be wearing even less. The thought of that swelled in her mind and it didn't bear dwelling on. Katara quickly tucked herself under the blanket before Sokka could see her.

As the tribesman stumbled in through the opening, he tripped on a dangling sleeve before scrunching his clothes into a ball and chucking them to the far end of the tent, leaving them for tomorrow-Sokka to deal with. He too had stripped down to his undergarments, wearing only his hair tie, his whalebone choker and his loincloth. The waterbender found herself involuntarily looking everywhere but at him. She'd caught a glimpse of his frame as he'd entered the tent, with just the moonlight on his skin, light and shadow outlining the details of his musculature. That had already been enough, or too much, or not enough. Her instincts couldn't decide, so she felt it best to avoid the whole matter altogether.

A chilly breeze rolled in against Katara's skin when Sokka lifted up the sheets to climb in next to her, she heard some shuffling around her head before the tent became illuminated in the dim light of a glowing crystal he revealed, which she had previously stored away in a travel bag. Katara was drawn to the light between her and her brother and as she turned in his direction, she prayed the glow-rock's dull luminescence wasn't bright enough to capture the blush she felt creep across her cheeks. What the light did capture was his looks, he had their bedsheet tucked under his arm, showing off his built shoulders to her and leaving just a threat of his chest uncovered, his strong jawline and sharp nose were accentuated in the shine by the shadows they cast and his blue eyes shone even in the dimmest glow. When Sokka cracked a smile at her, Katara felt her stomach sink, she hadn't even been aware that she'd just been staring at him this whole time.

Luckily for her, her big brother managed to break the silence before it became too awkward.

"So, you excited to see Dad when we get back?"

Katara's face lit up at the thought of their Dad and Gran-Gran, and even Pakku. Neither of the siblings had been able to spend anything like as much time with their family as they would have liked since leaving to stop the Fire Lord.

"Yeah, it's been so long since we've all been together."

"I know," Sokka sighed and cast his eyes downwards, away from hers. "I feel kinda bad not being there with him, now that the war's over."

The waterbender could hear the anguish in her brother's voice. She loved her Dad dearly but her relationship with him was different to Sokka's. He idolized their Father, the Chief was everything Sokka wanted to be as a man and the only thing Sokka wanted as his son was for Hakoda to be proud of him. Katara knew her brother had nothing to worry about, she was well aware that if anything, Her big brother was more excited to be going home than she was and she knew that there was no way that their Dad was anything but proud of them. How could he not be after everything they'd done? Yet still, Sokka could manage to work himself up at even the slightest possibility of disappointed their old man.

She reached out, resting a hand on Sokka's forearm.

"Hey, Dad knows we can't be there all the time. He'd rather you were out in the world doing something useful, rather than staying home when you're not needed." He looked up at her again, seeming a little more reassured. "Besides, he wouldn't be taking you tigerseal hunting with him and Bato if he was upset."

Sokka's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. He'd wanted to go on a proper hunting trip with his Dad and Bato for as long as he could remember and the nonchalant way in which his sister had just dropped this bombshell had completely stunned him.

Katara pulled her hand away from his arm and quickly covered her mouth.

"Oh, I'm such an idiot, Sokka! I thought you knew, Dad sent me a letter a couple of weeks ago, I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret!"

Before she had time to react, Sokka's shock transformed into the biggest grin his face would physically allow and he reeled his sister into a close hug.

"This is going to be the best Whatever-Spirit-Festival ever!"

Katara took some comfort in the fact that he wasn't upset at her for ruining the surprise, what she took less comfort in was her body being pressed into his. His strong arms wrapped tightly around her, their bare bellies being pushed together, she could feel his chest against her own and one of her legs tangled between his, her lips fell to the crook of his neck, almost touching. Katara's skin began to flush hotly wherever their bodies were in contact, and they were in contact everywhere. She managed to wedge her hands between them and separate herself from her brother.

The brunette inhaled deeply and brushed a few loose hair strands from her face, trying to compose herself as she changed the subject.

"You really don't know anything about the ritual, do you?"

Sokka's mouth hung agape in mock shock as he did his best to act offended.

"Katara, of course I do. You're going to do some waterbending mumbo-jumbo and that means a big, spooky monster won't eat us in our sleep."

Katara's brows furrowed. How Sokka could still be so dismissive after all that he'd seen really got under her skin. She turned away from him and laid on her back, crossing her arms over her chest. He knew how much her waterbending was a part of her and when he ridiculed it like that she had no option but to take it personally. Katara was starting to remember why she thought Sokka didn't care about her.

"This is part of your culture too, Sokka. On the solstice, when Pakku and I b-"

"GramPakku."

"Uhh... On the solstice, when Pakku and I bend the water brought from the Northern Oasis, we're reviving a tradition that hasn't been performed in our tribe for decades."

The tribesman propped himself up on one elbow and leaned over his sister, he didn't really enjoy seeing her so wound up but that didn't mean he'd back down.

"Exactly, nobody's done it for years and nothing's happened."

Katara felt her blood rising. There's no way her own brother could be so ignorant, no way.

"Nothing's happened?! What do you call the Fire Nation raiding our village for waterbenders?"

He rolled his eyes at his sister, she somehow always seemed to make every argument about herself.

"Nothing spiritual's happened then. And anyway, if this Spirit's so great, why didn't it protect us from the Fire Nation in the first place? Why should I care about some Spirit who doesn't care about me?"

Katara just reacted. Something inside her begged for her not to be so blunt but she knew that this would shut him up.

"Because she does care, Sokka. It's Yue, the ceremony honors the Spirit of the Moon."

She heard her brother drop from his elbow onto his back, there was a heavy pause before Sokka said anything.

"Oh..."

Katara lay beside her brother, both of them staring at the ceiling of their tent.

"Yeah, well, I guess this ritual's going to be important for both of us."

Sokka sighed and rubbed his brow.

"I'm sorry, sis."

The waterbender smiled just slightly, it wasn't often one of the siblings heard the other say they were sorry but when she did, it always meant they'd put whatever they were arguing over behind them.

"I know, Sokka. We're still good."

The silence grew thick and uncomfortable. Katara understood that Sokka's apology hadn't been completely for her and as he lay there, he was probably still thinking about Yue. The brunette prayed that neither of them would ever have to go through anything like that again, Katara couldn't even imagine how she'd have coped if she'd been in her brother's position when the Northern Princess sacrificed her life. Then again, even if she wouldn't dream of comparing the circumstances, she was starting to understand just how deeply losing your first love cut.

Something crossed her mind when she turned to face him.

"Sokka?"

Her brother was pulled from his thoughts.

"Hmm?"

It still hurt to bring up, even though he already knew. Part of her wanted to pretend that if she didn't think about it, it didn't matter but the stronger part of Katara told her that she had to face this.

"How did you know about me and Aang?"

The tribesman could feel a proud chuckle brewing but felt it best to suppress this urge and instead rolled over to meet her face-to-face.

"Katara, I'm your brother, it's my job to know."

Katara puffed out her cheeks, she wasn't in the mood for his games.

"No, come on. I never said anything, so unless you've been in touch with him th-"

He cut her off before she got too roused again.

"I got suspicious when we got off the carriage. I mean, I knew something wasn't right the moment you showed up at the palace but the way you were with me and Suki on the ride out of the Capital, that wasn't like you at all."

She started to shy at being reminded just how she had been behaving as her brother continued his explanation.

"That's not what you're usually like around couples, the way you were acting was like-"

"Like you?"

"Heh, yeah alright. When you started droning about me and Suki being a 'perfect couple', I guessed that there was more than you were letting on, but I didn't really think about it until the next day. So, when I got up, you were already awake."

Katara laughed to herself.

"Yeah, I wonder why."

"Hey, I already said sorry for that! Anyway, you were looking up at the sky and you just kept staring at it. I tried to see what you were looking for but all I saw was clouds..."

She arched an eyebrow at him.

"People look at clouds, Sokka."

"Yeah, but you weren't just looking at clouds were you? I didn't get it at the time but you were thinking about Aang."

He had her figured, all she could do was sigh.

"... Okay, I was."

"And that wasn't even the main thing. I know you, Katara. There's no way you'd leave the ribs from your dinner and just eat the greens. You're always telling me how much you miss meat when you're with the Acolytes, so something must have been up between you and Aang."

Katara held her palms out in front of her and dipped her head. She was fairly embarrassed about being read like a book but she also felt reassured that Sokka was so understanding and was looking out for her.

"Alright, alright, you caught me... I guess I am that easy to read."

She felt Sokka's hand on her shoulder.

"Don't look so down, you never stood a chance. I am is the world's greatest detective, after all."

The waterbender did her best to hold her sidelong glare of disapproval, letting Sokka know just how dumb his boasting sounded, but she couldn't. She felt her face turn against her will, the more she tried to hold it down, the worse it got and he was still looking right at her with that proud, dumb grin. Katara smiled, then she sniggered and then she laughed.

Her amusement was infectious and Sokka found himself chuckling with her. He had actually been joking about his investigative skills, though he was unsure if his sister knew that or not. When they'd both gotten it out of their systems, they looked at each other again.

"There was one mystery this old sleuth couldn't crack though?"

Katara could stop herself from giggling at his silly voice.

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

Sokka paused, letting the moment die down. His tone had more intent in it this time.

"What exactly did happen between you and Aang?"

Katara sunk into her pillow. The reasons for her split from Aang were clear in her mind but to put them into words was something else. It was hard to talk about and it was painful to dwell on but Sokka was worth telling.

"I don't know... I guess I felt like I wasn't being very appreciated."

Her eyes flitted so as to avoid Sokka's directly. It felt like such a cliche but it was the only way she could express what she felt now that he was listening.

"The first year or so, it was perfect. We were free, we felt free. We could do whatever we wanted together, with all the time to do it in but after Yu Dao, things got harder for us."

"You mean with the Acolytes?"

Katara fidgeted with her hands under the covers.

"Yeah, but not just that. He gets called away more now, there's always some mayor or chief somewhere who thinks that the Avatar should be fixing their problems and I knew that when we were starting, I knew it wouldn't be easy but between that and him spending so much time with the Acolytes, I just felt like I was getting left out."

Katara could feel herself welling up again. Sokka saw tears starting to collect on her eyes.

"And I feel so horrible for saying it because I know he didn't choose to be the Avatar and I know how important his culture is but I'm just not ready for that. I spend so much time in temples just waiting for him to come back or to be finished with his students, I hardly ever get to see him and when I do, all he wants to talk about is how he settled some conflict in some village or found some ancient artifact from the Nomads and I try to pay attention but it's like I'm not even part of what matters to him anymore and I wonder how much he actually thinks about me and... Oh, I'm so selfish."

Sokka wiped the tears from his sister's eyes.

"Katara, you are not selfish. You might be bratty, overbearing and stubborn as a goatmule but you are not selfish."

She smiled a little, that had seemed to pick her up slightly. He rubbed her forearm and she looked into his eyes.

"I know how it can feel. When Suki first moved to the Fire Nation, I felt like she was forgetting me too but whenever she gets time off or whenever I'm staying at the Palace and she's not on shift, she leaves her work behind, or at least tries, and focuses on what we want to do. It's not easy but Aang's never gonna have that, he never gets to stop being the Avatar or the last airbender and I don't blame you for feeling ignored in the middle of all that."

Katara shuffled into her brother's embrace, his chin resting against the top of her head. She laced her arms around his body and clung to him tightly.

"That's why I went to the North Pole in the first place. I needed to get away and have something of my own. Where I could make things happen and not have to wait for Aang. I thought it was for the best but I didn't know anybody and I wasn't exactly the best company to be around so I ended up spending most of the time thinking about how I'd screwed everything up."

Sokka sighed and pulled her closer.

"You should have come to me first."

The waterbender smiled.

"I know, just sitting out there with you and Suki, it's the best I've felt in weeks."

Sokka didn't say anything, he just held his sister. Katara could feel the rise and fall of his breath, the beating of his steady heart, his warm skin against her own. When she inhaled, she was full with his scent and when she held him tighter she pressed her body to his. Katara buried her face into the crook of her brother's neck and and threaded a leg over him. There was an unclear need inside of her to be with him and the closer they were, the better she felt.

Then, she felt herself being moved. Sokka pulled her up, out of their hug and back beside him, eye-to-eye.

"Katara, I know I can be a huge jerk sometimes but I don't want you to feel like you have to run to the North Pole just to get some clearance, you can tell me what's wrong, okay? You're my sister and I'm going to be there for you."

She smiled and nodded to him, there was no need for her to speak or ask, he'd already said everything she'd needed to hear.

"And you just say the word and I'll beat him up, Avatar or not. That's what big brothers are for."

Katara was going to laugh, she could have sworn she laughed but she didn't. Instead, she found her lips hewn to his. She had a hand on Sokka's chest and was leaning into him. Instinct had taken over her, Katara hadn't really decided to kiss him so much as she had just acted on impulse. When what she had done and what she was doing came into the clear, she didn't pull away, her actions were now as conscious and deliberate as the pounding in her chest, growing more and more apparent with each aching moment spent awaited his response.

Sokka was completely still. His mind was all over the place, he had seen his sister's approach but it hadn't seemed real to him. As she had closed in, some inner force had prevented him from resisting her, whether he was frozen by overwhelming shock overtaken by some latent desire to accept her kiss he didn't know, not that it mattered now, their lips were already locked. The tribesman's body hadn't been oblivious to the rising heat under the covers, Katara's smooth and uncovered skin graced his, lavishing him with needy touches. He stared at Katara, searching for an answer but her eyes were closed. As they slowly peered open, Sokka looked at her. He didn't see the desperate, lusty glare of a heartbroken teenager, he saw his sister, as full of love as she'd always been and in need of her brother. He would always be there for her.

The brunette felt as though she was melting when Sokka returned her kiss. Her neck arched backwards and her hand slid from his chest to his side as he pushed towards her. Katara's heart was aflutter and when the want for the tribesman surged through her veins, her lips parted. His tongue was gentle without being apprehensive, he awoke something within her, that sensation of being truly loved. His hand went to her hip and she remembered how it felt to be truly adored. Her tongue met his and she knew what it was to be with someone who would do anything for you. Her fingers slid beneath the hem of his loincloth and he pushed her away.

Sokka, breathless and with ever nerve in his body tingling, looked to his sister.

"We can't."

Katara's face was one of pure dejection, of course she understood why her brother was right but hearing him say it still hurt. He wrapped his arms around her again.

"It doesn't change anything I said. I'm still your brother, okay?"

She let herself relax in his hug.

"Okay."

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	13. CXIII - Fifth Flashback, part 3

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter XIII - Fifth Flashback, part 3**

Hours passed and Sokka stayed with her. He heard his sister drift off to sleep beside him while he remained wide awake. Every time he tried to rest, his mind became flooded his the sensations of their kiss, his body still ran hot with need and refused to calm down until it had been sated. The tribesman had considered taking his urges "into his own hands", so to speak, but the thought of accidentally waking Katara up terrified him. He waited until he was absolutely sure that she was fast asleep before slipping out from under the covers. Sokka heard Katara stirring as he left her and froze as still as he could until she had settled again before making his exit.

The night air was cold and sharp and stung against his near-bare body and he quickly discovered how much more painful it is to stand on a pebble when you can't see where it is. He found his way to his more familiar shelter, patting against the top of it to gauge where the entrance should be. For the second time that night, Sokka stumbled into a tent.

Suki was wrenched into a bleary state of semi-consciousness by her boyfriend making his entrance, her Kyoshi Warrior training didn't allow her to be a heavy sleeper, but that didn't necessarily mean she was a quick waker-upper. A yawn seemed to blow away some of the grogginess and she started to remember that Sokka wasn't supposed to be with her tonight.

He staggered around their tent haphazardly, the redhead voiced her tired discomfort through incoherent groans. Any hopes Suki had of quickly going back to sleep were soon quashed by the sudden emergence of light in the tent, her eyes reluctantly adjusted to the brightness which seeped through the tribesman's fingers. The glowrock that Sokka held illuminated the Kyoshi Warrior's boyfriend to her for the first time since they had parted earlier in the night. The light streaked across his body, strongest at hip height were he held the stone. Suki caught sight of Sokka's taut abs as they waxed and waned under each breath, shadows drawn from the lines of his definition over to the far and inumbrated side of his torso. The redhead forgot all about going back to bed when she noticed just how much her boyfriend was wearing, or more accurately, how much he wasn't. She snatched herself a quick glimpse of Sokka's loincloth and the tops of his legs, little bumps rising to the surface of his skin in the cold, before the light ascended along his body. Shade danced alongside it, sketching the structure of his chest, arms and shoulders before Sokka held the glowrock out in front of his face.

A quick dart of the eyes and he found her. Suki felt herself gulping instinctively when Sokka's gaze fell on her, she'd been ogling him with her mouth hanging wide open, completely forgetting that he could see her just as easily as she could see him, at least she could notch that one up to the tiredness. He looked down at Suki with a proud smirk, he couldn't help but feel full of himself whenever he caught her checking him out.

With a flick of his wrist, Suki's focus on him pulled away. Her quick eyes shot towards the rapidly nearing light source. The Kyoshi Warrior dodged her head to right, allowing the glowrock to land on the pillow next to her. As soon as Suki managed to find her bearings again, Sokka came crashing down on top off her. Thankfully for both of them, he held himself up on his arms to prevent them from butting heads. The shivering chill of the night crept across Suki's front when her boyfriend peeled sheets from her shoulders. A few lucky inches of skin were soon bathed once again in warmness as Sokka attacked her collarbone with his lips. She didn't have much of a chance to appreciate the finer points of her boyfriend's oral attention before he began to caress the contours of her sides through the fabric barrier that separated them and push his rather blatant arousal at her front. Suki took notice, he certainly wasn't in the mood for taking things slowly tonight.

Sokka nuzzled at Suki at the edge of her jaw, just below her ear.

"We've got to be quiet, but I need this."

Not his most romantic line, granted, but the resolve in his voice caused her heart to jump and besides, it wasn't as if she'd tell him no, not now. Suki lifted her hands from beneath the covers, wrapping an arm around him and placing a palm on the small of his back, his cool skin sending shivers along her arm as she held him. The other hand reached for Sokka's cheek, pushing his face over hers, allowing her to hit back fiercely, not wasting a second to find his tongue. Together, their legs kicked frantically to push the sheets down off of Suki's body. The redhead felt the first pangs of her need when Sokka laid his body back along her freshly revealed flesh. His sculpted stomach rested in the space between her open legs as he pulled at her chest bindings. The tribesman's movements were urgent, his fingers nipped at her skin in his attempts to loose the cloth.

When Sokka managed to pull the fabric partly free, Suki raised her back in order to grant him easier access as he unwrapped her. She teased with her toe, up and down her boyfriend's thigh. Her heart felt as though it would burst from her chest as each layer of her wrapping was stripped away, exposing more of her chest to him. His impatience became evident when he tore away the final few strands of Suki's bindings. Sokka looked down and saw the light, red markings the constricting cloth had left on Suki's breasts, he instinctively reached for them. Suki hissed as her boyfriend rolled her tit around in his hand, his thumb brushing along the edge of her attentive peak. Her hips started to pulse against the ground in rhythm Sokka's kneading hands, rubbing her aching front along his abdomen, trying to communicate that she needed this as much as he did.

The Kyoshi Warrior gave a gasp when the Sokka took her left nipple into his mouth. His body lifted and his head dropped, pushing her chest to the ground. Excited tingles eminated from her stiffened nub as he flicked at her with his tongue, massaging the surrounding skin between his lips. Sokka pawed at her right breast with a light grip and circular motion, his finger's gliding across the soft mound and grazing her firm peak. Her muscles were squirming beneath his intense assault, there was a tightening sensation deep within her which became more and more strained with each second Sokka was at her breasts.

The redhead lifted her foot to the tribesman's hip and latched her big toe beneath the string of his loincloth. Her toenail left scratch marks on his leg as she pulled simple covering downwards, freeing his engorged length from its restricive enclosure. With the cloth around his knees, Sokka arched his back and shifted his body up. Though they were pressed hip to hip, Sokka's firm manhood extended well passed the top of Suki's undergarments and ground along her smooth belly when he writhed against her. She buried her fingers into his dark hair, cradling his head to her breasts. He suckled at her, drawing as much flesh into his mouth as he could. Her legs entwined around his as their bodies pulsed in unison. He was like a man possessed, a moan escaped her as she held him closer.

"What happened in there?"

He gave her no answer, instead making her hum by swirling the tip of his tongue around her nipple. Sokka kept his eyes closed while he lapped and sucked at Suki's teat. Her touch was the same, her sounds were the same, her taste was the same and yet it all seemed knew to him. The tribesman buried his face deeper into her chest, trying to capture each sensation that was uniquely Suki but nothing would shake that betraying little voice at the back of his mind, the one which was telling him that he should be doing this with his sister, that this would all be so much better with Katara.

The Kyoshi Warrior's breath left her when she felt her summit yanked from side to side in Sokka's mouth with a determined shake of his head. She had no idea what that was all about but she wouldn't deny that it felt good. His hand stopped carressing her as his fingers fell of the edge of her breast, his knuckles rasping along her creamy skin before Sokka slid his hand under the edge of her night shorts and brushed through the scratchy, auburn curls he found there. That certainly didn't feel like Katara.

Suki's hips stirred and her toes curled when Sokka's hand pushed between her legs, his fingertips teasing and tapping around the spot she needed him the most. Her head rolled back and she gave a stuttering cry, Sokka latched a digit inside of her. Her body responded to its breaching by driving her hips towards him, his finger tickled just inside of her, tempting at her hunger to be filled.

Without warning, his hand left her. Sokka lifted his wrist, pushing up at the waistband of her leggings from within and forcing them down. Suki rose herself to let the tribesman remove the final article which concealed her from him. It snagged against the rise of her backside before pulling free and gliding along her curves. The chilly air felt exceptionally sharp here, where she was at her hottest. That last barrier only fell as far as her mid thighs, Sokka decided he could get enough access as was and stopped his pushing. As he took his hand from her shorts, he found his knuckles painted in a dampness Suki had left where he'd been pressing. His head rose from off of the redhead's chest and both hands planted themselves at her sides. Needy cores pressed together, he stared at her face, pale skin, red hair, plump lips, violet eyes, this was who he wanted to be with, he was sure of it.

His lips curled upwards into a smile.

"Suki..."

But before he could breath another word, all the hairs on the back off his neck stood to attention. Something was rustling about outside of there tent, Sokka's eyes flitted instinctively to find it but in the dim light he didn't stand a chance of spotting a thing.

Panic washed over him as he heard that alien pattering approaching. It was just outside their tent, then it was at their tent, then it was entering their tent. Gut reaction took control and the tribesman grabbed the blanket he'd been spending so long trying to get off of his girlfriend and threw it over the both of them as he rolled off to Suki's side. He reached next to pillow, where he usually kept his boomerang but when his fingers failed to locate that fimiliar sharp edge, he was reminded that he'd thrown everything he'd disrobed into Katara's tent, weaponry included. He hoped that Suki had her fans handy.

In the blurry of the bedsheet, they didn't even see her enter. Once the cover had settled down, she instantly drew the young couple's eyes.

On the inside of the tent's opening, with fists clenched and chest heaving, Katara stood, naked from head to toe, save for the token of maternal love around her neck which she was never without. The the low glow from the stone only barely made her visible but it was enough for Suki to make out the waterbender's smooth legs and full bust. The Kyoshi Warrior's heart leapt into her mouth, the way Katara stood there, so sure and defiantly but with hands balled tightly to fight away those nervous, shakes, her breathing slow and deliberate in order to keep her calm. It was one of the most beautiful things that Suki had ever seen.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	14. CXIV - Katara, Sokka & Suki

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter XIV - Katara, Sokka &amp; Suki**

Suki reclined against the bank of the stream, her arms spread out on the prickly grass. The redhead's eyes were closed as she reminisced about just how incredible Katara had looked, how the goose-pimples ran across her own skin when she noticed who it was intruding her tent, how she couldn't catch her own breath on seeing that captivating, intent stare on the waterbender's face.

Suki's arms provided her anchor as she allowed her body to float upon the brook. The water was bitterly cold but that just made it feel all the more refreshing, as it washed over her naked skin. The sweat and the sin peeled away by the purifying current, leaving her body a clean slate for her to go right back and dirty up again. The muscles in her thighs tightened up and she rubbed her knees together, Suki found her teeth sink into the cushion of her lower lip just thinking about all she had done and everything she wanted to do with the southern siblings. Her body bobbed up and down on the water, totally at the mercy of their natural element, it coursed along every contour, found its into every gap, not leaving an inch of her submerged body untouched.

The temptation of being back with them soon proved to be too great. The Kyoshi Islander pulled her wet body out from the creek, picking up the towel she'd left by the stream and scrubbed herself dry. The wind was chilly on her bare skin, all the more reason to get back inside where she was certain to find something to warm her up. The redhead noted the eery lack of sound as she took in her surroundings, there was only the babbling of the water and the rustling of the winds. The howling moans and shrieks of the waterbender girl had seemed to have died down and the only noises emanating from the tent was a steady shuffling interrupted by the odd grunt or gasp. Curiosity plagued the Kyoshi Warrior as she made her way back to the shelter.

The redhead lifted the flap of the tent's opening over her head and made her way inside, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the light coming off the spilled bag of glowrocks. She was greeted by a writhing entanglement of brown limbs. Katara lay on her back, legs splayed and in the air, swaying to the rhythm set by her brother. Sokka was suspended above her on elbows and knees, the sweat on his back shimmering as it was caught in the light between thrusts. An arm wrapped under his and clawed him at the shoulder. Their heads lay next to eachother, the tribesman's thrown to the ground and growling, the waterbender's with eyes clenched tightly, calling without voice in a breathless scream. Her breasts jerked but didn't bounce, restricted by the press of his chest upon them, his hips closed in on hers in fervored frenzy but never made contact, teasing her limit without trying to push through it.

The pair seemed oblivious to Suki's return, lost in a world which contained only each other. This was everything the Kyoshi Warrior had wanted not long ago, to see them as they would be without her presence but that appetite had long been satisfied and now she craved only the taste of engagement. Suki approached her entranced boyfriend from the side and placed her hands on him. When she gave Sokka a nudge, he responded with a disgruntled bark but the redhead wasn't one to be detered, there wasn't a chance she'd let allow them to burn each other out while she was left wanting.

Suki lowered herself down to her knees to give herself a base to push from. Straining her shoulders, she heaved against the tribesman. He bunched the sheets in his hands as he refused to budge but it was in vain, as he felt himself slipping, Sokka scooped up his sister and rolled with her, landing her body on top of his.

The waterbender was utterly dazed. So had been enthralled in her lovemaking that she had shut everything else out then suddenly, she could feel herself being spun and rhythm breaking. Her eyes opened mid-turn, Katara found herself lying with her head on her brother's chest but what she was looking at was the pale midriff of another girl. Her cheeks flushed red, she didn't even know that Suki had come back.

When Katara began to lift her body, even the lightest friction from within caused her body to tense. Sokka was still very much deep inside of her despite their flip and, though the tempo of their connection had passed, every movement that she inched caused his firmness the brush against her, reminding her that she was still locked to his body. The southern girl found an odd half-risen position where she leaning over her brother, it wasn't the kindest arrangement for the arms which supported her but it was where Sokka's presence felt its least distracting so that she could speak.

"Seriously, Suki, did you have to? I was so clo-ohhh..."

Her words died in her mouth as Sokka slowly drove upwards. It seemed if Katara was trying to minimize the sensations of her brother being inside her body, he was more than determined to remind her he was still there. The waterbender didn't have too many complaints, the interruption might have been rude but the return of that his movements was ultimately what she had wanted. Katara winced as Sokka pressed himself against the ceiling of her channel, not leaving an inch of her unfilled, so intimately united that Katara could swear she felt the throb in his stiffness as his racing heartbeat coursed through it.

Suki couldn't help but smirk at hearing her friend being cut off mid-sentence. As funny as the Kyoshi Warrior found it, it also brought forth those memories of just how sensitive Katara's body could be. Noticing that the waterbender was struggling to hold herself upright with her brother occupying her so completely, the redhead sashayed towards the couple. Standing just behind Katara, Suki reached down to sweep the loose and ruffled hair which hung over the brunette's left shoulder behind her.

"Hey, just remember, he's still MY boyfriend."

Steadily lowering herself, Suki threaded her arms beneath Katara's and crossed them over her soft, brown tummy, placing the tips of her finger high on the inside of the brunette's spread thighs. The redhead pressed her front to the southerner's back, lifting her head over Katara's shoulders and placing her lips just beneath her left ear.

"So, no matter how clo-ohhh you are, you owe it all to me, okay?"

With the combined weight of Suki's body on her back and her words in her ear, Katara's feeble arms began to slide from underneath her. The thick ridge of Sokka's manhood ground along her surrendered walls as her body moved towards his when Katara found herself falling forwards. She turned her head to the left mid descent, landing with her cheek on her brother's shoulder.

The sudden impact of the girls laying on top of him caused the tribesman to fidget and buck, driving himself back into his sister and making her moan. Suki had freed her arms just in time for them to miss being caught between the siblings' bodies and now held onto Katara's sides. The Kyoshi Warrior slid her body forward, pressing her excitement against the waterbender's ample backside and resting her hips on the small of Katara's back. Sokka barely had time to recognize his girlfriend's lust-filled grin rising over his sister before Suki attacked his lips.

In the past, it had always created a strange duality in Sokka's mind, to be kissing one girl while making love to another. There was usually a degree of awkwardness involved for him in where to direct his attention. More often that not, his body told him to focus on the sex but he was ever mindful that his other partner, be it Suki or one of her Warriors, would be less than pleased if he neglected her lips. It wasn't that Sokka didn't enjoy both sensations but they fulfilled different desires and in the early days, the tribesman could find dividing himself between two partners difficult to the point that it took all the joy out of either spectacle, but not here. When Suki leaned down and pressed her face to his and he wrapped his arms around the two girls, nothing in the world could have felt more natural.

Her brother's body was shifting beneath Katara. His thighs pushed against hers as his rose his knees. The change allowed him more freedom with which to manoeuvre. A yelp escaped her as his hips began to writhe towards hers. The waterbender's body pulsed to the movements Sokka made, there was no real rhythm to their sway yet, just a gentle rolling back and forth. Even so, with each push of his heavy shaft towards her core, a ripple spread throughout Katara's body, making her shiver and whimper. Every slight motion was amplified by the warmth she found herself surrounded in. With Sokka at her front and Suki resting atop her, there was no escaping the roaring, passionate heat. Suki's silky skin lay down on Katara's, her weight pushing the waterbender right up against her brother's body. The brunette heard each beat from Sokka's incensed heart, felt every sliding limb from the lovers as they entwined tongues, holding each other and she moaned at every jerk of the tribesman's hips. It was a foreign and intense position Katara found herself in but she felt an assurance of absolute safety between them. As the couple's kiss broke, Katara was eased by the familiar sound of Sokka's groaning through gritted teeth. She ground her hips at him, trying to draw more sounds from her brother and gave herself over to the sea of intensity.

The siblings below her squirmed and squawked in unison. Suki lapped at Sokka's growling lips as she felt herself nudged forward on the increasing force of his thrusts into the girl the redhead was lounged upon. The waterbender's smooth thighs were pinned between her own, squeezing and tensing with each of Sokka's visits to her physical limit. Once he'd regained his breath, her boyfriend found her mouth once more. Tongues danced and Suki felt movement. Sokka's firm hold on her back began to fall southwards. She sighed into him as his fingertips caressed her sides before climbing to her rump. Sokka took a hold over her cheeks and kneaded them in his hands. His dexterity was hampered somewhat by having to reach up over two people but that didn't prevent him from spreading her backside and reaching down to run a finger across her dampened center. The Kyoshi Warrior rubbed her heat into Katara's back, hoping to find release among the instinctive grinding. She sucked at the air when his hands moved again. Suki could feel his lips curl into a smile against her cheeks as his finger began to run in circles on the taut rim of her other opening. The pad of Sokka's digit pressed against her back entrance, meeting a fair amount of resistance. Suki cooed at him when the tip of his finger slid inside and she clenched around him mercilessly, thrusting her tongue deep inside of his mouth when he drew back out of her, then in, then out, matching his digit in time to the moans he was causing Katara to make, teasing Suki with just a modicum of the pleasure the girl between them was receiving. The three held like this for some time, sighing and sliding together. As nice as it was, the redhead wasn't in the mood for second best. She had her ambitions aimed higher and still had her heart set on what she came back to this tent to claim.

Pulling backwards, Sokka's finger snagged, popping out of her puckered hole as his hands fell from her hips. Suki slid back further, up and over the curve of Katara's butt and knelt down behind the waterbender, pushing Sokka's legs to lie flat once more. With the weight of the redhead off her back, Katara put a few inches of space between her body and her brother's, only to have that gap pervaded by the Kyoshi Warrior's hand grabbing her just under her breasts. With a heave, Suki yanked the brunette up on her knees, the sudden reangling making that length press in places it hadn't before. Katara shreiked when she sank down on him, learning the hard way that from above, she now had most of the say in how deep Sokka went. The tribesman himself grimaced at his manhood being tugged upright, but soon settled when he opened his eyes and saw his sister's glistening body sat up on his hips, each heavy breath causing her chest to swell.

Suki steadied her friend so that she wouldn't come crashing back down, then got to her feet, keeping a hand on the waterbender's shoulder. Katara took the opportunity to find her brother's eyes. Her body felt absolutely ragged, she wasn't used to keeping her stamina up for this long. Sokka could tell and shot her a lopsided grin when she looked at him, her mouth agape and trying to catch her breath. Nothing went unnoticed between the two, especially not Katara's desire to see this through to the end, no matter how worn out she felt.

Suki pirouetted about the brunette, standing in front of her with her feet planted on either side of her boyfriend's shoulders. She chuckled as she peered down between her legs at him.

"Sorry to spoil the view."

She lowered herself down towards his lips, straddling the tribesman's face. The redhead felt him lay a soft peck on her blushing folds before hearing him.

"I'm not complaining."

Whether it was his cheesy comeback or from finally feeling his mouth on her there, she didn't know but it made the redhead smirk. Sokka lay flat on his back with both girls knelt above him, Suki pushed out her ass out leaned slightly forward to give him easier access, Katara held herself about mid-way down his length, her hips gyrating gently around him. The Kyoshi islander felt the balmy vapors of his exhalation blowing against her yearning core, the humidity only inflaming her need for him. Beginning to slowly raise herself, savoring each inch of Sokka that brushed against her, Katara moved. It was an odd sensation for the tribesman, not being able who was riding him, every motion his sister made caught him off guard, pushing him closer to the edge.

Sokka poked out his tongue to the crease between Suki's legs. The tip nudged just past her outer petals and made measured draws towards the bottom of her opening, when Sokka pulled his tongue back, a threads of his girlfriend's wetness had latched on and dangled between them. Suki hummed from the back of her throat as the tribesman began to lap at her. He could talk for days, eat for a dozen men and wasn't a half-bad kisser either but this was far and away the redhead's favorite application of Sokka's mouth, such were the benefits of dating someone with a keen, analytical mind. It was almost like a project of his, studying what she liked, experimenting with new techniques, judging how she reacted, all in an effort to see how hard he could make her cum.

Katara started her descent along the his sturdy shaft. Her hands lay spread on Sokka's abs, her fingers squeezing at his body as she enveloped him. The broad head parted her ever deeper, making her gasps stutter. The waterbender's teeth clamped to her bottom lip, stifling the screams that built up inside. Without warning, blue met violet. Her eyes locked onto Suki's and held firm. The Kyoshi Warrior wore an impish grin, satisfied to be getting what she wanted but only starting to stir. Katara was on the other end of the scale, her cheeks were flushed and her muscles were straining, she ached for her release and was so close to attaining it. Suki was pressing her body down towards Sokka, beckoning him inside when her gaze fell on his sister. Seeing Katara overcome with pleasure, watching her gorgeous body jerk and flex as she began to build her pace, her pert breasts bouncing with every change in direction, watching as Sokka disappeared inside of her, hearing the soft tones of her whimpers and calls, the scent of their coupling lingering in the air, Suki wanted to be as close to what Katara felt as she could and there was no better way than to press herself against the man they shared.

As her body closed down on him, Sokka found his senses conquered by Suki's arousal. Her aroma filled his nostrils and she coated his lips when he kissed her. The tribesman craned out his chin to reach the crown of Suki's womanhood with his tongue, flicking at the delicate nub and sending shivers shooting through to her fingers and toes. As Katara, took him deep inside of her again, Sokka couldn't hold against the urge to buck and bury himself further. Her fingernails clawed at his midsection and he reached for his sister's waist to steady her, his other hand pulling up and landing on Suki's hip.

The rush of Sokka's mass delving deeper caused Katara to cry his name out, his stiffness testing every extent of how much her body could take. When at first they had discovered the joys each other's bodies held, her brother could barely sustain a dozen or so hasty thrusts before peaking but as they endured the bitter weeks and months side by side, he eventually grew to outpace her. Katara felt the sweat collect on her brow as she began to work her legs and pump the length below her. The thrill of climax itself hadn't been the appeal of sex to Katara in those early days, she placed more value in the affection she shared with Sokka. If anything, she was pleased that her body was able to provide him with that release, knowing how badly he needed it in trying to feed everyone they knew and cared about. She swallowed him as far as her body allowed, her channel clasping tightly around him, she felt the hand her brother placed on her flank squeezing as she continued to ride. For so long, Katara was happy enough with the kisses he lay on her skin and the closeness with which he held her all night. That first time Sokka had brought her to orgasm, Katara felt as though she was going to break in two. She'd held a pillow over her face so that none of the other villagers heard her screaming. It was almost transcendent, this wash of sensations that had been hidden from her until that moment. That night, Sokka came not long after she had and she was finally able to appreciate just how incredible she'd been making him feel for so long. Katara kissed him more voraciously than she ever had when he finished, she'd felt initiated and freed, now able to express her love with him on a higher level than she had know before. Her body rose and dropped on him now, straining every muscle so she may feel all of that once more.

Sokka pressed his lips to Suki's, she rolled her hips at his face, searching for any part of him to brush her heat onto. His tongue entered her, sliding past her folds and between her pulsing walls. The Kyoshi Warrior laced her fingers with the ones he held on her body and balled her other fist to lean onto his chest, being eaten out was as much a weakness of hers as it was a fondness. Suki saw as Katara's eyes shut and she listened to the brunette's moaning as she set the tempo of her bouncing. Between Suki's legs, Sokka huffed and blared, breathing the steam of his and Katara's sex directly into her. His lips massaged her petals as his dextrous muscle swirled within her sopping slit. The redhead's breathing became syncopated to the ebb and flow of the tribesman's tongue. Sokka nestled her clitoris under his bottom lip and tended to her opening whole-mouthed. The pleasure rose like bubbles up through her body and left her mouth in gasps, each lap with his tongue and caress with his lips filling her up slightly more.

The Kyoshi Warrior sounding caught Katara's attention. It still felt strange to her, Suki might have been one of her best friends but she was still an outsider and yet here she was, right in the midst of what Katara had always considered exclusively personal between her and Sokka. She felt no ill-will towards the redhead, it just seemed a surreal situation, perhaps the fact that she knew Suki as well as she did made things all the more strange. She'd seen the Kyoshi Islander before, wearing little more than she did right then, they'd bathed together, been to the beach together and when Suki trained, she wasn't shy about showing off her body. Katara knew that Suki was an attractive girl, her figure was incredible but so was Ty Lee's, so were the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors', the waterbender had never thought anything of it. Why then, when she heard the redhead moaning, watched the her toned arms tensing and abs heaving, her whole body lost in waves of passion, was it so deeply captivating to Katara?

She'd never thought of girls like that. She didn't think of girls like that, but in the heat of the moment, when Suki rolled her shoulders, arched her neck back, auburn strands cascading behind her, full lips hanging lazily open and seeping a guttural groan, catching Katara's stare with eyes half-lidded, she couldn't deny there was something, everything enticing about the island girl.

The tribesman's instinct to move became louder and louder each time he was plunged deep within his sister. He was so used to seeing her whenever they were this close that to only have her touch made it as if this was his first time with her all over again. Every detail and intricacy of her depths felt new as he was engulfed by her clasping tightness. Even so, he still wanted to see her. Though it was largely for her necessity, Sokka did appreciate the tender qualities of making love face to face. Beyond the obvious allure of the fact that Katara was gorgeous and watching her reactions to their fucking drove him crazy, they lost some of the connection they shared when they couldn't see each other. Some much more was communicated through their eye contact, they could read and respond to what their partner needed through looks alone, the way in which he held Katara's gaze told him more about how much he was loved than words ever could and without that link, Sokka was a little apprehensive to submit to his urges and press on. At least the noises she made and the way she scratched at his skin told him that she comfortable with the current arrangement.

The tent rang with gasps and groans from the two girls, Sokka would also have been heard if his grunts weren't being muffled underneath his girlfriend. Between the passionate calls, the slosh of Katara coating the tribesman's manhood in her sex was evidently clear with each rise and fall on top of him. The slick residue made taking his length easier, the waterbender held to him tighter as she built up her speed. The moans from Katara's mouth became longer and louder, every nerve in her body buzzed to the push and pull of her walls against the invading heat she moved on. She felt his muscles squirm beneath her fingertips and his hips budging under hers. A wave flowed out to the edges of her body from the point they were joined each time she filled herself with Sokka. Her dark hair started to cling to the back of her neck and droplets of her exertion ran down along her arms, Katara was intimately aware of every strand and droplet as her senses strived to take in every detail of this moment. Her brother was the same, feeling each bead of wetness that leaked from her and trailed down to his hairless base.

As Katara began to pump the tribesman with more vigor, Suki was reaping the rewards on the other end of him. His tongue was frenzied, dancing rings around the tender jewel at her peak and pampering her with needy licks along the length of her opening. The redhead leaned forward onto the fist she had planted on his broad chest, her whole lower body felt like it was contracting around his tongue. The hand he held at her side would tug at her intermittently, in time with the brunette's shrillest shrieks, pulling Suki slightly off balance as his body struggled under the pleasure he felt with his sister. The Kyoshi Warrior ground herself to her boyfriend's face, she could feel the hum of his throat on her entrance when Katara dropped down on him and heard the wet smacks of her juices sticking to his lips. He was bringing her closer and closer to the verge, she shuddered and howled in anticipation, but he retreated at the last moment, leaving her wanting more.

Katara was rocked to her core whenever Sokka pushed up against her limit. Her composure started to slip and the underside of her thighs began to ache. Every instinct in her screamed to persevere towards her climax but her rhythm began to stutter. When she became aware of her slowing hips, Katara gave rapid rushes in an attempt to make up for her lost pace and while brief bursts felt incredible, they drained her muscles even quicker. Her irregular pace riled Sokka's body up, he had no way of telling whether the brunette would be making a slow pulse along him or crashing down around him. Every motion caught him completely by surprise, fueling his need for release but he wasn't oblivious to the breaking os his sister's tempo. The urge to throw himself deep into her was still very much alive in Sokka and as exciting as it was to let Katara take the reigns, he always felt more comfortable being the one in control. Lifting his knees again, the waterbender was shunted forward. She found herself just inches from Suki's face, both girls holding the same expression, mouths hung open, their breath steaming between them. Katara's eyes closed and she sounded out as the tribesman pushed up inside of her again. His thrusting began slowly, delighting in being able to sample the softness of her channel at his own speed. Each inch of Katara offered only the slightest bit of resistance to Sokka's advance but she seemed to squeeze around him whenever he made his retreat. Once he'd found his groove, he was pistoning into Katara from the hips. The brunette's brow scrunched and furrowed and her breaths became screams. The arms she rested on gave way and she tumbled forward. Luckily, Suki's reactions were quick enough and she managed to catch her falling friend. With one hand around her back and the other on her hip, Suki held Katara as she moaned into the Kyoshi Warrior's shoulder.

Suki had had to lean forward to grab the bleating brunette. She knew that Katara was lost to all the world, but it was impossible for the redhead to ignore how Katara was gasping against her shoulder, the waterbender's warm breath blew across Suki's breast and over her nipple. Holding her tightly, Suki was now connected to the force with which Sokka thrust into his sister, the shock waves racked through Katara's body and into her, each one rocking her slightly against the tribesman's mouth. Hearing Katara's primal cries against her skin brought Suki higher. She spread out her knees, bringing herself further down, burying Sokka's face under her. His response was to nuzzle at her from side-to-side, attacking her pussy with tongue and lips. Her lungs emptied and her back arched, Katara whimpered as Suki's fingers clenched at her skin.

Katara was jerked back and forth on each wave crashing through her from Sokka's pounding. A roaring tempest brewing deep within, sustained by the endless beating of his energy inside of her. Her face was pressed into the softness that was Suki, her fingers spread on the tribesman's sturdy chest. The waterbender could feel the thumping of her brother's heart against her palms, the life within him flowing down to his hips before he pumped it deep within her. The exhilaration threatened to overawe her, it wasn't just the force with which Sokka was fucking her, it was the feel of his hot skin under her hands, the stifled grunts he made beneath Suki, the smack of his thighs high on the inside of hers, the rich musk of his laboring body. The waves surged and broke against each other, Katara felt weightless, floating, at one with the current her brother was dictating with his push and pull. It flooded every part of her. In the eye of a storm is bliss.

When exactly it happened is arbitrary, Katara wasn't fully aware at the precise moment. Her banks burst and every beautiful, little thrill poured into her. Her shoulders rose and tensed and she screamed into Suki with eyes shut tight. Thighs squeezing together and back arched, lungs gasping and toes curled, The waterbender's climax reverberated around her body as Sokka's desire was left unshaken.

The tribesman drove on, unable to see Katara peaking but hearing it and feeling it all around him. She clawed at his chest and her legs tightened above. She was smooth and inviting as he thrust up towards her and clasped tightly around him when he tried to pull back, pulsing at him with her wondeful warmth, locking him in, trying to draw his finish out. Sokka could feel himself approaching the verge, his chest beat and his growls grew gruffer. A surging force sapped the energy from all of his body and into his burning length. He brought both his hands up onto Suki's hips, blaring against her lips and pulling her closer to him, holding on for dear life as the muscles in his arms squeezed. Sokka buried himself with a few sharp, snapping thrusts, his hot seed erupting deep into Katara. His hips forced upwards, holding Sokka as far inside as possible as he emptied himself. His body stuttered on his release, drained and spent, focusing its all on the moment. The feeling coursed through his veins, the warmth with which Katara held him filling his every fiber.

Without warning, it struck her again. The searing spray of Sokka's climax and those final, purposeful shunts caught Katara in her descent. From where she felt she had no more to give, suddenly new forces were brought to life. The torrid ropes of her brother's finish pierced her innermost depths, bringing her closer to him in the most primal of ways. She tightened herself on him once more, cherishing their connection, never wanting to ever let him go. Sharing all that was caring and free and understanding and blissful and loving with him, if only for that moment, as she apexed again.

Suki held Katara upright, her brown body shuddering as she shrieked the syllables of the tribesman's name at a near undetectable pitch. The Kyoshi Warrior could scarcely believe that brunette had reached her summit twice so quickly. She didn't really feel like she was in much of a position to be supporting her friend's weight like this, not since Sokka was pulling her down so hard on top of him as he was rocked by his own orgasm. Where Katara screamed, Suki moaned. Sokka's tongue was frenzied about her rosy node, tempting her climax in hot flares racing under her skin. The noises the waterbender made against her shoulder shot shivers through Suki. Her body seized and relaxed, seized and relaxed in expectancy for the rush of pleasure Sokka was coaxing from deep within her. At the mercy of his flickering tongue, Suki's head dropped forward, her fingers clawed and her muscles tightened, every part of her scrunching itself up. With one last flick, the surge of ecstasy rippled across Suki, curling her toes, arching her spine, rocking her head back. She hit her highest note of the night, holding it until the air in her lungs was gone. She felt as though her body was going to shut down as the throbs of her orgasm endured, the steam leaving her skin carrying away all of her strength with it.

The redhead's body froze completely, trying to hold onto the moment as she slowly drifted down from her climax like a feather on the wind. Suki has only rather rudely brought back to reality by the grumbling of her boyfriend still trapped underneath her. Reluctantly, she got up, her legs aching from kneeling for so long. As she rose, Suki let go of her hold on Katara and the tired waterbender fell to the sheets, cuddling up to her brother as he extended an arm to rest her head against. Not wanting to inflate her boyfriend's ego any more than it almost certainly was, the Kyoshi Warrior was hesitant in snuggling up on his free arm and draping him with two beauties but, it was a particularly chilly night and Sokka's body was so warm. Kissing him on the forehead, Suki reached over and packed the glowrocks away before pulling the covers across the three of them and curling up against Sokka. Filthy, sweaty but beyond care and loved completely, the trio slipped into their dreams for the few hours that remained before the dawn.

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**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	15. CXV - The Journey South

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

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**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

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**Chapter XV - The Journey South**

Stirring groggily, Suki was the first within the tent to return to the land of the waking. Peeling her cheek from Sokka's outstretched arm, she sat up at an angle, blinking until her sleepy eyes cleared. Wafting a hand just above herself and feeling the tickly presence, Suki could already tell that she'd awoken with a pretty serious case of bed hair, though she pondered whether that was the right thing to call it, seeing as she hadn't been anywhere near an actual bed last night but, quickly recognizing that referring to it as "Sokka's-arm hair" was sort of gross and needlessly confusing, the Kysohi Warrior snapped herself out of morning musings. As much as she'd enjoyed their little camping trip (and she had very much enjoyed their little camping trip) the redhead was really looking forward to spending tonight back in a proper bed, even if it was in the wobbly cabin of a ship, that was heading to the Southern Water Tribe, which was freezing at all times and an absolute pain to get warm in, and also the place she'd be spending the next few nights. Sokka was lucky that she loved him so much.

Suki couldn't help but smile when she turned her head to look down at the sleeping siblings. Sure, it was definitely still a little odd but they did look kind of sweet together, there was the slightest upturn at the edges of Katara's mouth as she held herself close to her brother. His mouth, on the other hand, just hung lazily open, snoring, probably the reason Suki had been woken up.

Crawling over to the other side of the tent, Suki picked out one of her Kyoshi Island tunics. Unlike the greens of her warrior uniform, the civilian wear of her homeland was blue, dating back to before the war, at a time when the island's largest trade partner was the Southern Water Tribe. The distinction had never meant much to Suki growing up but since meeting Sokka, she treasured the old links between their peoples and flaunted her blue whenever she was able. She'd catch stares and glances, people would ask why she wasn't in Earth Kingdom green and while she did love her country, she was a Kyoshi Islander first and wasn't about to make apologies for it and besides, green would clash with what the siblings would be wearing.

From the shuffles and low growls behind her, Suki guessed that her movements had woken her boyfriend. She only had her tunic on, which just about reached halfway down her thighs and her hair was still a mess but she didn't mind, nobody other than Sokka and Katara were going to see her before they set out from camp anyway. She left her clothes in a pile and turned to greet the tribesman with a kiss, his lips still dry as she pressed her mouth to his. After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he began shaking his sister until she came around and they got themselves dressed. Sokka, much like his girlfriend, didn't see the point in getting fully outfitted so early and as such, didn't throw anything on other than a pair of dark blue pants. Katara, on the other hand, was had a strong desire to look prim and proper first thing in the morning, the only thing restricting her was the fact that she hadn't brought anything other than her necklace with her from the other tent. With the waterbender not wanting to go outside naked and Sokka remembering that he'd left some of his clothes in there anyway, he decided to go out and grab his sister's things for her.

After throwing Katara her stuff and lugging his pack outside, the tribesman decided to get started one the first order of business for the day, breakfast. Though it was past mid-morning already after having slept in longer than planned, they were still well within time of making their ferry and Sokka didn't feel like beginning their trek on an empty stomach. Starting a fire with what was left of their wood and placing a pot with some water over the flame, Sokka got busy preparing the remains of his fish with some of his jerky and the leaves and herbs in order to make a slapdash stew that didn't really have a name.

A little watery, and chewy in places but other than that the girls found their breakfast to be alright. The conversation between Sokka and Suki was light while they stretched and yawned, mostly discussing the plans for making it to the harbor. Katara was in much better spirits, having dropped the bad mood she'd been carrying around the last few days. She didn't seem at all weary and had her bags packed before the others had even finished off their bowls. As the trio packed their things away and took down their tents for the last time, Sokka felt it was good to see his sister smiling again and hearing her laugh as she talked to Suki.

After helping himself to remains at the bottom of the pot, the tribesman walked up to the girls and slung an arm over both their shoulders, yanking them in tight and grinning.

"Alright, everything's packed up and the Sun is shining. We are good to go... As soon as I get dressed."

Suki and Katara looked at each other, trading their glances of shared annoyance but he had just made them breakfast, so they'd let him off in this instance.

The following walk was largely uneventful, it was just nice for the three to be able to relax without the threat of falling out hanging over the siblings. Talk mostly concerned the Southern Water Tribe with Sokka and Katara chatting away about seeing everybody they knew again and the things they'd heard had changed since they'd last been home, Suki joined in when and where she could and the siblings filled her in on the things she didn't know about. Though she'd already met their Father at the Boiling Rock during the war and on a few other occasions following its end, this was to be Suki's first time meeting the rest of the tribe and her first actual stay in the sibling's homeland. Up until now, the redhead had mostly taken the trip as it came but as the prospect of reaching the South Pole loomed larger, her interest began to pique. Katara reassured her that she'd be provided with plenty of fur parkas had she not packed enough layers, though Suki told her that wouldn't be necessary, and Sokka gave her a quick run through of Water Tribe cuisine, with which, having spent enough time with him, Suki was already quite familiar. Between them, Katara and Sokka gave a decent overview of tribe life but The Kyoshi Warrior's queries were a little more specific in their nature.

The redhead's gait came to a timid shuffle and her eyes were fixed downwards.

"So, umm, is it true that you guys- I mean, in the Southern Water Tribe..." Suki sighed, clearing her mind, centering her focus, preparing to quickly blurt eveything. "Is it true that everybody in the same igloo sleeps naked together in one big bed?! Because I don't know if I can really do that and I brought some extra warm pajamas with me, for when we're down there but I don't want to offend anybody!"

Suki's head hung sullen, she could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks, making them glow red. It wasn't often that she could find herself embarrassed like this but making a good impression on their family was really important to her. The siblings eyes flitted between Suki and each other. Katara nodded to give her brother to give him the go-ahead. Sokka approached his girlfriend, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Well, it is a thing. That is how our sleeping arrangements are supposed to be made."

Suki lifted her head a little, looking fairly defeated. Katara sighed, maybe it wasn't a good idea to let Sokka explain. She walked towards them and held Suki's other shoulder.

"But it's sort of... traditional. Most people don't really sleep like that anymore."

The tribesman interrupted, he had been getting to that part before Katara butted in.

"Yeah, nowadays, kids get their own beds when they're too old to share. I mean, me and Katara, we umm..."

"Well, uhh..."

"Yeah..."

Katara shook Suki's shoulder, pulling the redhead's attention and breaking the awkward back-and-forth she was having with her brother.

"But don't worry about it, Suki. It's not something we'd ever expect of a guest anyway."

The Kyoshi Warrior relaxed and sighed.

"That's a relief. As sweet as Sokka says your Gran-Gran is, I don't think I want to be getting that close to her."

Sokka chuckled to himself as the three of them started to pick up their walking pace again.

"Oh, you didn't need to get worked up over that. She moved out with GramPakku a couple of weeks ago. Dad was telling me in his letters. Apparently, he built Gran-Gran their own 'Get-Away Palace' with his waterbending."

Katara peered at her brother with an eyebrow raised.

"Seriously?"

Suki smiled, her mood improved.

"That sounds kind of sweet."

The waterbender turned to her friend.

"You don't really know Pakku too well, he's not the kind of guy you'd expect making a 'Get-Away Anything'."

The trio swapped stories about letters from home as they walked. The Sun still beat down heavily once they'd arrived on the fringes of the harbor town. The scent of spice and salt filled the air and the streets were lined with people enjoying the good weather. The group had planned for some last minute shopping here but given that they'd slept in, their priority was finding the boat that would take them South. Dashing past market stalls and down backstreets, Sokka lead them to the port side of town, where they were confronted by the gargantuan vessel which would be taking them to their destination. Towering above the other ships, the steel-clad leviathan dwarfed even the battleships the siblings had seen during the siege of the North Pole, an event they'd rather not be reminded of. Dull gray, monolithic and adorned with spikes and sharp edges, it was quintessentially Fire Nation, though the elongated superstructure convinced them that the boat's design was inclined more towards cabin space than catapults.

The ship had actually began life as the first of a new line of war cruisers but the war ended before it ever saw completion. Eager not to waste their investment, the Fire Nation Navy sold what they had already built to an industrialist, who owned resorts on Ember Island and redesigned the vessel so that it would be able to ferry large numbers of people across the now safe seas in style and comfort. A risky venture but one which by all accounts had paid off handsomely. This particular voyage the trio would be taking would set off from the harbor town and stopping off on the Earth Kingdom coast, mostly taking Fire Nation descendants who'd been visiting family back to the newly independent former colonies, then picking up Water Tribe members who lived there to take them South for the festival. Aside from the ship's crew, Katara, Sokka and Suki would be among very few boarding now who would reach the South Pole.

The trio had to fight their way through the pushy queues and crowds lining the port. As they approached the ship, they were confronted by a diminutive, old man clad in elegant, red formal wear. He leered at the three of them with eyes full of weariness.

"Tickets please."

Sokka plunged his hands into his pockets, a cold dread washing over him as his fingers reached the edge of the fabric. He quickly tried his other pockets, then the ones on the sides of his backpack. Then the first pockets again, just in case he had missed them.

His panic began to infect Katara when he removed his bag and crouched down with it in front of him.

"Sokka?..."

Her brother cut her off before she could ask the obvious, sifting through his stuff and emptying his luggage on the ground.

"I know I packed them, they're in here somewhere."

The elderly attendant groaned, each prolongued moment seemingly sapping the very life out of him. Katara was looking a little worried when Suki spoke up.

"It'll be fine. Sokka's never forgotten anything when we've been out together. There's a difference between being organized and being prepared."

As if on cue, the tribesman thrust their boarding passes into the air triumphantly, an unrelated washcloth also caught between his fingers.

"Got 'em!"

Sokka handed their passes over and packed his things away, the old attendant was very happy to get them on board and as far away from himself as possible. Once they were inside, things were certainly much calmer. Despite Sokka's disparaging remarks about how it was "definitely a Fire Nation ship", the red, black and gold decor was surprisingly rather comforting, the plush carpet and soft furnishings were a welcome break from the prickly grass and fallen logs which had surrounded them these last few days.

Their cabins were largely of the same fashion. Suki and Sokka shared one while Katara had the adjoining single room. Snug but suitable, there wasn't a great deal to their quarters but a bed, a bin, a small table bearing a bowl of fruit, a bag of glowrocks and a pamphlet about the ship, some chairs, a cupboard and some shelves for storage. They had managed to swing a pair of rooms with windows however, so that they could watch the sea go by. Suki wasn't paying much attention to the water however, the moment she opened the door, she dropped her things and pounced on the bed, stretching out all her aches on the covers and sinking into the cushiony softness.

Sokka dumped his luggage by the door and peeled an ash-banana.

"Comfy?"

Suki hummed, closing her eyes and rolling her head around on the velvety pillow.

"Spend so much time in a Palace and you sort of get use to a certain level of luxury."

The tribesman laughed, taking a bite of his fruit while walking towards her.

"Oh yeah? Has the fearless leader of the Kyoshi Warriors gone all soft on me?"

The redhead's relaxing came to a halt as she pouted and looked her boyfriend straight in the eyes.

"There's more to being a warrior than your own strength, Sokka. Me and the girls are one unit, striking harder together than any single individual. I'm sort of disappointed you didn't pick that up seeing how long you've been around us." Her lips curled into a grin and her eyes narrowed, Suki lifted her leg off of the bed and pressed her big toe against Sokka's groin. "I guess your mind must've been elsewhere during our training sessions."

Growing just a little flustered and getting clear of his girlfriend's accusatory foot, Sokka made his way over to the window, seeing the calm, lapping waves and the crowd gavering on the docks to see the ship off.

"Yeah, well, don't get too relaxed. We're eating dinner with Katara after we set sail, so I don't think you've got time for a snooze."

She rolled over onto her side to face him.

"You're already stuffing your face!"

He turned to his girlfriend, his voice measured and direct.

"It's fruit, Suki. It does not count as food."

After unpacking some of their essentials and some more bed testing, in which Sokka admitted that it was actually rather comfortable, they called on for Katara at her room and made their way up to the upper deck, joining the swell of people bidding their farewells as the boat finally upped anchor left the Fire Nation. Not that they themselves had anyone to say goodbye to, but being out on the upper deck seemed better than hanging around in their cabins.

The rumble of the engine room was met by whoops and cheers from both the people on the deck and the large gathering below as the great vessel began to drift away from the dock. Some of the crowd, Suki included, felt the need to grab a hold of something as the boat fell to the wobbling mercy of the waves but the siblings seemed very much in their element once at sea. The trio made their way towards the dining hall, Sokka and Suki hand-in-hand, for what was guaranteed to be an experience in taste. The head chef, as the every pamphlet on the ship proudly boasted, was a former personal chef of Ozai himself and, while any mention of Zuko's Father brought up plenty of bad memories for all three of them, they were fairly confident that the former Fire Lord probably wasn't all that evil with regards to what he had for dinner.

The banqueting hall was massive and magnificent, it seemed almost unfeasibly large to be placed on any vehicle. Like the rest of the ship, here everything was overwhelmingly clad in red, including the very cheery women that greeted Katara, Sokka and Suki as they entered, bowing, wishing them good fortune and handing them a menu with a daunting, plastered smile which reminded the siblings of Joo Dee. They took their seats at one of the long tables which filled the rooms, Sokka in the middle, flanked on either side by the girls. Suki was sat next to a young boy with green eyes who kept stealing glances at the Kyoshi Warrior when he thought she wasn't looking. The boy had arrived with an older sister, whose only topic of conversation was how she was robbed of first place at an Agni-Kai tournament, their stocky and bearded, green-garbed Father who seemed to communicate only in grunts and their extremely elegant Mother who could have been plucked straight out of Fire Nation nobility. On Katara's side was a lovely, if forgetful, old woman who kept reminding the waterbender that she'd wanted to visit the Earth Kingdom since she was a girl and was so glad to finally have a chance.

A fairly deranged looking man approached the stage at the front of the hall which all the tables faced. He was slightly hunched over, with untamed black hair that sprung up at odd angles. He announced himself as their chef and gave an overly long speech about how he wanted to connect the world through food in the same way the ship connected the world through travel as the waiters swept through the room taking everybody's order. Katara wasn't listening to the chef's announcements but then again, neither was anybody else, what he was talking about didn't click until she looked at the menu and saw that the options were all inspired by one of the four elements. Katara decided to stay fairly safe and chose to start with stewed seaprunes, then have artic hen as her main, breaking the Water Tribe pattern to finish with an Air Nomad fruit pie for desert. After studying the menu, Sokka came to the same conclusion as his sister for the first 2 dishes, though he had been tempted by the komodo sausages, before picking Flaming Fireflakes to finish. Suki opted to begin with some Fire Nation mochi, her main wasn't even a choice as soon as she saw elephant koi steaks on the menu and she'd finish off her meal with a plate of jennamite, a dish she'd always been curious of trying.

The chef went back to the kitchen and was replaced by a tsungi horn band. Their starters arrived quite promptly. Suki offered some of her mochi to the siblings, which they both enjoyed, though she declined their return offer to try the seaprune stew. Almost as soon as their main courses turned up, Sokka was over his plate and stuffing his face, the arctic hen apparently got his approval. Katara glanced over to Suki, who took the first bite of her meal, closed her eyes and seemed to freeze still. The waterbender had no idea what she was doing.

"Suki, is something wrong?"

The redhead snapped out of her trance at hearing her friend's voice.

"Hmm? Oh, no, it's nothing. It's just been so long since I've tasted elephant koi. The food at the palace is really good but there's nothing like the stuff you grew up with, you know what I mean?"

Katara looked down between them at her brother, who was tearing his meal to pieces.

"Yeah... I know what you mean."

Suki laughed as she took another bite.

"You can only catch the koi a few weeks of the year. So whenever one's spotted, pretty much everyone who has a boat sets off into the water to try and get it."

Katara looked back up at the island girl, it was a familiar tale.

"That sounds just like what happens in the tribe when a whale's seen off shore. Arctic hen though, they're not nearly as exciting. You just leave some feed out and wait for one to show up before whacking it with a club, they're kind of dumb. Tasty though."

The courses came and went, Sokka admitted that though while very good, the arctic hen wasn't as good as their Dad makes it and the boy sat next to Suki was quietly told off by his Mother for peaking at her. After gorging themselves on their deserts, the trio headed back to their rooms for a little downtime. They agreed to meet up in an hour but unfortunately the combination of a full stomach and the rocking of the waves left Suki feeling queasy and it was another hour before she managed to convince Sokka that she'd be fine by herself and that he shouldn't hold his sister up.

The tribesman knocked on for Katara and explained that Suki still wasn't feeling any better. Sokka noticed that Katara wasn't looking too great herself, though she wasn't sick, she clearly had something on her mind. When he offered to take her back to the dining hall, where there was a buffet and some performers, she refused, telling her brother that she'd rather head up to the deck with him.

It was largely empty by the time the siblings made their way up there. The Moon loomed large, its reflection shimmering on the water and a chill wind rolled off the waves, deterring all but the most ardent of couples, determined to have a romantic moment before the stars and seas. Katara headed straight for the railings, resting against them and looking out towards the water. Sokka followed and joined her by the railings and as he did, Katara leaned on his side.

Seeing Yue never failed to make the tribesman a little bit emotional but it also reminded him how important it was to look after what he still held dear. Sokka nudged Katara with his arm.

"What's up?"

She was looking down now, arching her neck over the side of the ship to see where the ripples lapped against it. Pausing before she replied.

"I've been thinking about things."

That pulled his attention from the night sky and towards her.

"Oh?"

Katara started to feel silly. A few days ago, she couldn't have cared less what her brother thought but things had changed since then. She wanted to tell him, she wanted him to know and although her mind was already made up, there were still some nerves as to what his reaction may be. The waterbender sighed, it was always easier to get these sort of things over with.

"I'm going to give things with Aang another shot."

His reply didn't come immediately, pondering her words for a moment before turning to her.

"Yeah, if that's what you want, you should go for it."

Katara looked up and returned her brother's gaze, smiling at first before her face soured a little.

"I just hope he hasn't moved on to one of those Acolyte girls already. You've seen how they look at him."

Sokka laughed, leaning back against her.

"You know Aang's not like that." Katara nodded in acknowledgement before he spoke again. "What changed your mind anyway?"

The waterbender slumped against the railings, looking a bit deflated. She wasn't sure how exactly to put how she felt into words.

"I broke up with him because I didn't think we were spending enough time together. He always seemed to be away meeting some leader or visiting some sacred site and I felt like I just wasn't that important to him, second best, or third best."

Sokka let her weight rest against him, he hated seeing her all sad like this.

"But you knew about his responsibilities before you started dating."

Katara swung her leg back and forth, scuffing her boots on the wooden flooring, thinking how best to explain herself.

"Yeah but when it's real, it isn't that easy. Soon enough, all the ceremonies he has to attend and spirits he has to honor all start to sound the same. Does he have to go to them all? It's like, every day there's some new thing that's more important than me and if all these things are more important than I am, then how can I matter to him? But it's not like that, not really. Me and you hadn't seen each other in months, plus you have Suki and yet the second I saw you in the Palace, I knew you still cared about me."

"Of course I do."

"I know, I felt the same way. That's why I was so angry and upset with you. I'd been telling myself for weeks that I'd done the right thing by breaking up with Aang because there's no way he could care so much for everything he does and still love me on top of all that and then you turn up out of the blue and it's like we've never spent a day apart. I didn't want to admit that we could still be so close despite everything separating us. It was easier to pretend that I never had any real chance with Aang, it was easier than trying to make things work. He's the Avatar and he's the world's only airbender and I know that I can't always be his top priority but really, that doesn't mean he doesn't love me. Even if it isn't as perfect as I imagined, being with him is worth the effort."

Sokka smiled as he wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulders. She was always the mature one.

"You're right. When the Kyoshi Warriors moved to the Fire Nation, me and Suki fell out so much and we both had doubts over if what we had was worth the struggle but we came through it and we grew closer. Just remember that no matter what actually happens with Aang, I'm always here for you, don't ever doubt that."

Katara closed her eyes and snuggled herself into Sokka's embrace.

"Don't worry, I know."

A moment of blissful silence hung between the siblings, nothing more needing to be said, a perfect understanding. Then Sokka broke it.

"I never thought that you'd be one to lose hope."

Katara giggled to herself before poking her big brother in the side.

"I never thought you'd be the one to give it me back."

As the siblings laughed together, the deck began to fill up with more and more people as the ship approached the lights of the Earth Kingdom coast. Katara and Sokka were interrupted by a familiar face as Suki decided to join them. The tribesman pulled his girlfriend into a tight hug.

"Suki, are you feeling okay?"

The redhead returned his affection, even if it was a little excessive.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I couldn't get any sleep anyway with everybody hauling luggage outside our room, so I figured it'd be more peaceful up here."

Suki looked around as a noisy crowd began to gather. Children pointing out buildings and mountains they recognized from their schoolbooks, women chattering about the best places in the city to visit, men making sure that they hadn't forgotten anything from their rooms. The Kyoshi Warrior bowed her head. "Though on second thoughts, I'm not too sure."

The three of them talked as people milled about around them. By the time the ship actually pulled into the Earth Kingdom port, they seemed to be the only people left on the deck as everybody else headed back downstairs to disembark. Despite being the dead of night, the docks were as busy as any daytime city, with hundreds of noisy people leaving the ship and starting on their journeys home. The trio spotted a few faces they'd recognized in the swarming mass from the day's journey, including the family that had plonked themselves down next to Suki during dinner and as the little boy took one last look at the boat, his gaze fell directly on the Kyoshi Warrior, naturally, of course it did. The redhead slumped against the rail and let out a long sigh.

Sokka wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong. You still feeling sick?"

Suki reached up and placed her hand on his, shaking her head.

"No, it's not that. It's just... seeing all those people getting to go home. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited about going to the South Pole and all but it's just that it's been so long since I saw my island."

Katara approached the side-rail and took her place next to the forlorn looking redhead.

"Me and Sokka are only supposed to be visiting for a few days. I'm sure we can spare some time to visit on the way back."

The tribeman pulled Suki in closer to him, knocking her balance slightly.

"Yeah, there's boats that make the trip up there all the time now, I could take us if Bato or my Dad lends me a ship. You've still got a few days left before you have to head back anyway, right?"

Suki beamed at the prospect of returning home, even if only briefly.

"Yeah, that'd be perfect and it'd give me a chance to see how things have been going with me not being there. Whip the girls back into shape if they think they've got the cushy job."

Sokka rolled his eyes at her.

"Even when you're supposed to be on vacation..."

As the mob from the ship filed out, they were eventually replaced with new people boarding for the trip South. They were mostly Fire Nation descendants who'd made their way down from the former colonies, who would be staying on the ship until it made its way back around to the port it began from, where they had business to attend or family to visit but among them were spots of blue, tribe members, from the the North and from Yu Dao, travelling South for the festival. There may only have been a few of them but Katara began to feel the slightest bit of nervousness from seeing the future members of her audience for the first time. The trio headed back to their cabins to catch some shut-eye before they landed at the South Pole in the morning, though Sokka and Suki had some time to themselves before turning in properly. This was, after all, their first opportunity of doing it at sea.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	16. CXVI - Home Sweet Home

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter XVI - Home Sweet Home**

Suki was woken by a shiver, the unmistakable chill of the southern seas filling their room. Sokka was behind the redhead, holding her tightly to the front of his body. The moment she made any attempt to wriggle free of her boyfriend's firm clutch, he made grumbling noises and his arms clumsily pulled her back down, squeezing her against him. Never mind, it wasn't like she needed to get up right now anyway.

In the cabin next door, Katara was already up and about. She had wanted to get another couple of hours rest in but each time she had tried to get back to sleep, her mind kept focusing on the fact that today she'd finally be going back home. Not one to waste time, Katara had spent the last few hours practicing her waterbending forms. Though the confines of her room didn't allow her to test out her moves at their full size, she was exercising her abilities to maintain a steadily flowing helix of water, which she knew she would be required to do as part of the ritual. She was using the sacred water she had brought from the Northern Oasis in that special, purple water pouch. It would have been difficult to describe to somebody who couldn't bend but this water somehow felt different to that which she was used to. It was purer and more spiritually attuned, reacting keenly to each and every subtle movement as she bent it. Focus and a peaceful mind were key, the moment Katara's form faltered even slightly, the helix began to wobble and lose its shape.

The brunette returned the water to its skin when she heard movements in the next room and got herself cleaned up. Meeting with the groggy couple in the hallway, the three of them headed down to the dining hall, where Sokka and Suki decided to completely ignore Katara's advice about only having a small breakfast, being that Gran-Gran would have no doubt prepared a feast for them when they arrived home.

After a far less exotic meal than the chef's international banquet last night, the trio went back to their rooms for about an hour, packing whatever they'd removed from their camping supplies back up, lounging about and waiting for the announcement that the South Pole was close. When the captain's voice rang through the loudspeakers, he reminded all on board to dress appropriately for the icey environment. Sokka pulled his thick fur coat on and he assumed his sister did the same in the other room. The tribesman was about to offer his girlfriend the other coat he'd packed when he saw her remove something from her luggage. It might have been the biggest, thickest coat Sokka had ever seen and not just that, Suki had packed an equally ridiculous matching pair of pants. From the deep red coloring, he assumed that she had bought these in the Fire Nation in preparation from the journey. From what he could see, the garments were made of wool, but the odd hairs that poked out through the knitting told him the wool was a cover for what must have been layers upon layers of fur which built up the huge bulk of the clothes. Peeling off the blue tunic she'd worn for breakfast, Sokka watched in disbelief as the Kyoshi Warrior elected not to wear anything underneath, pulling the heavy trousers up over her bare legs. Once she'd gotten the coat on, she pulled out a pair of fur-lined boots, covered with black, komodo-rhino leather and a matching gloves, once those were on, the only thing left to do was throw the hood over her head and pull the drawstring so that only her eyes could be seen.

When she was finally kitted out for the cold, Suki turned to her boyfriend for his opinion.

"Wod'a fimk?"

Her voice was obscured under the thick padding and it wasn't the only thing. The redhead was unrecognizable to Sokka beneath the mass of fur and wool. To say it was unflattering would be putting it lightly.

"You look ridiculous."

The Kyoshi Warrior's brow furrowed and she made an attempt to smack him but Suki underestimated just how heavy her arm now was and only ended up losing her balance, stumbling a few steps towards the other side of the room.

After pulling on his own backpack and helping Suki, who was suffering from a lose of flexibility, put on hers, which was now much lighter thanks to it no longer carrying her winter-wear, Sokka knocked on for his sister, with Suki in tow.

Katara reeled back when she opened her door to find her brother stood beside some big, red, huge thing that beamed at her with violet eyes. Wait...

"Suki?"

There was an upturn in what little flesh was visible on the red thing's face which indicated a broad smile beneath the wool. That was as much confirmation as the waterbender was getting that this was indeed Suki.

They headed up to the deck for the last time, chunks of ice bobbing along the waves a clear sign of how far south they were. Katara and Sokka saw their homeland on the horizon, a pure white shoreline towered over by distant mountains. Though they wouldn't actually be landing in their village, Hakoda and Kanna would be their to greet them for the final leg of the journey home.

The siblings' eyes widened as the coastal town came into view. Everything seemed so much bigger and more lively than the last time they were here. It didn't look like the settlements they were used to seeing growing up, it wasn't confined by ice walls and there were proper buildings and roads, life in the South was starting to pick up again without the constant threat of a Fire Nation raid, though the irony of sharing that thought as they approached on a huge Fire Nation ship wasn't lost on them. Suki, on the other hand, wasn't much for caring about anything else so long as she was toasty, and she very toasty.

As they pulled into the harbor Suki, Katara, Sokka, and the other Water Tribe passengers flooded off the ship the second they were able. A crowd of friends and family lined the bottom of the gangway, awaiting those arriving home. Suki followed the siblings as they searched for a familiar face among the greeters. Together, Katara and Sokka's eyes fixed on a shared target and their voice was almost one.

"Gran-Gran!"

The pair of them raced off to the right, the redhead's restrictive gear not allowing her to keep up. Katara reached their grandmother first, almost tackling her into an all-encompassing hug. Sokka stood slightly to the side, a little miffed that he was being ignored and not seeing any entry point between the two to slip in and show Kanna his affection. A group of important looking men stood behind them chatting away then caught his eye, one of the men in particular.

"Dad!"

Sokka sprinted towards his Father but stopped short of rushing into him, straightening out his back and trying best not to look excitable in front of Hakoda's distinguished associates. They were the village leaders, who made up the council of elders his Father had been elected to lead and the last thing Sokka wanted to do was embarrass his old man in front of them. He nodded respectfully to his Dad. Hakoda wore a proud smile.

"C'mere"

The Chief grabbed his son in a tight embrace as Katara and Kanna approached them. Sokka turned towards the older woman.

"Hi Gran-Gran."

Kanna didn't respond, seeming to peer around him with her eyes searching.

"I thought you said your Kyoshi girlfriend was coming. I cooked enough for five."

Hakoda leaned towards his son's ear with a hushed voice.

"She cooked enough for an army."

Sokka walked towards his grandmother as Katara greeted their Father.

"Suki's here, Gran-Gran. She'll be in that crowd somewhere."

As he spoke, a rotund, red mass waddled forth from the blue swarm. Hakoda bore the same confused expression his daughter had upon seeing the same thing a few short hours before.

"Suki?"

The red, round thing waved at them before walking in their direction. It stopped in front of Kanna and bowed to her, almost tipping forward in the process.

"Iths anonna domaig yuragwaynence, EldeGanna."

Kanna turned to Sokka for any sort of assistance but the only thing he offered her was a thumbs up. The elderly woman nodded to the red thing as it managed to stand up straight again. She spoke loudly to make sure that it could hear her.

"Uhh... My grandson's told me a lot about you."

It's violet eyes seemed to sparkle, it must have been smiling beneath the covering.

"Guffings ahobe."

It slapped Kanna on the shoulder, taking the old woman by surprise as it tottered off towards the chief.

"Iz gooda ziu aggenAggoda. Fangoo fa lebbi-"

Katara interrupted, grabbing the Kyoshi Warrior's attention.

"Suki, you might want to open your hood, nobody can hear you with your mouth covered."

Her brother crossed his arms.

"Well I can make her out just fine."

Suki pulled out the toggle on the drawstring, loosening the hood and revealing everything between her fringe down to her chin.

"Oh... Sorry..." she turned back to the Chief "It's good to see you again, Hakoda. Thank you for letting me stay in your home."

Hakoda pulled Suki into a brief hug, though it was a struggle to wrap his arms around whatever it was she was wearing.

"There's no need to thank me, Suki. You're practically part of our family."

There was no hiding the wide smile on Suki's face when he said that. Kanna finally got a good look at the redhead, she was certainly very pretty, which she'd long suspected would be the first thing her grandson would look for in a girlfriend.

They travelled to the siblings' home village in a carriage pulled by bufallo yak, a sturdy breed of creature brought by Northern migrants, which had definitely made transport in the South Pole much easier. The trio talked to Hakoda and Kanna about their trek through the Fire Nation and the boat ride down (though they left out some of the more intimate details). Underestimating the speed of the buffalo yak, Sokka was only halfway through his recounting of the ship's menu when they passed through the walls of their village. Katara and Sokka were stunned as they looked around their home, it seemed to change every time they left it. Gone were the days of poky, little hide tents and a crude buffer barrier, now the villagers lived in fully sized, igloo homes and were protected by a high, gated wall. Every surface was decorated with tribal markings and a tall watchtower kept lookout across the tundra.

The wagon pulled up to the front of Hakoda's home and everybody got out. Katara helped Kanna get out of the carriage, Sokka helped Suki. He sighed as she put a foot on the ice.

"You know that thing's more trouble than it's worth, right?"

The Kyoshi Warrior frowned, looking down at her huge, padded coat.

"Yeah, I overdid it but I've got nothing else like this and I don't wanna get cold."

Katara approached the couple, placing a hand on Suki's shoulder.

"It won't be as cold once we get inside. You can borrow some of my clothes, if you want. They should fit."

The redhead smiled to her friend, she'd already started getting a little hot in the wagon and regular Water Tribe clothes did look a lot comfier than what she currently had on.

"Thanks, Katara." she then exhaled heavily. "Looks like this was a huge waste of money then, it cost so much to get it fitted right... and it's **really** itchy too."

Making there way indoors, they were met by the near overwhelming scent of food. Sokka was nearly stopped dead in his tracks as Katara lead his girlfriend off to her bedroom to pick out something to wear. There was a whole table decked of steaming whalebone dishes and bowls, tiers of meats and mounds of seaweed noodles, the young tribesman had no idea where to even begin. Hakoda slapped his boy on the back.

"What'd I tell ya? Enough for an army."

Father and son took their seats as they waited for the girls to emerge from Katara's room. Sokka's eyes were fixed on the table of food before him, this morning's heavy breakfast totally forgotten. Tapping her foot, Kanna was growing impatient with how long the girls were taking. Hot food, unsurprisingly, goes cold rather quickly this far south, she had left Pakku to look after the spread while she was out and had expected to see him when she returned, but he must have already left for his waterbending class and she was left not knowing how long the food had been unattended.

All heads turned towards the bedroom door as it opened. Katara emerged first, she'd let down her hair so that it hung long over her shoulders and down her back. She took a seat next to her grandmother, who was next to Hakoda, who was next to Sokka with an empty spot between the siblings. There was some shuffling from the waterbender's room as Suki stepped out. Sokka was transfixed, he didn't know what he'd been expecting but faced with the reality of the girl he adored so much in the wear of his people made his heart swell. As she made her way towards him, each step careful and deliberate with all eyes on her, he couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful Suki looked, he didn't think he could be more in love.

As Suki sat, everyone's focus now fell on the field of food that lay between them. At once they began to tuck in, filling their plates as fully and as varied as possible, though Suki again avoided the large and rather unattractive looking bowl of seaprunes. They chatted away about what they'd been up to since they'd all last seen each other, Hakoda detailed the new developments across the tribe, Gran-Gran explained how Pakku was helping to train new benders in the South, Sokka told them about the lessons he'd had under Paindao and correspondence about new ideas he'd had with the Mechanist, Katara relayed the progress she'd made with the female waterbenders in the North and Suki told Kanna what it was like to work in the Fire Nation Palace.

The Chief stopped stuffing his face for a moment and looked over the table to his daughter.

"So, Katara, was there any particular reason Aang couldn't make it?"

The brunette's blood ran cold, that was the last thing she wanted bringing up at a time like this, when she was supposed to be relaxing, when she needed to be calm for the ceremony. She'd like to have told her Father that it was because he was out reviving an ancient Air Nomad ceremony, technically that was the truth but with Sokka and Suki there, she knew there was no avoiding the inevitable. Katara felt something, a hand on her shoulder. She turned to Suki and Sokka, bearing her low smiles, reassuring, supportive, just looking at them made her feel better, this whole mess of her relationship with Aang seemed less vital. Still treasured, still worth saving, but not so crucial.

Katara took a deep breath. She was fine, she really was but no matter how many times she told herself that, it didn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes. She looked at her Gran-Gran, then at her Dad, then at the table, it was easier to face.

"I broke up with him."

Immediately, the waterbender found herself being pulled into a hug from her Gran-Gran.

"Oh, my poor, little dear."

Katara returned her grandmother's embrace. She felt so silly crying, she'd already made her mind up, she'd already talked it out with Sokka but Kanna's squeeze seemed to force more tears to her eyes.

"Really, Gran-Gran, it's okay. I'm going to try and mend things with him when I can."

When Kanna let her go, Katara found Hakoda had made his way around the table to her side.

"I'm sorry, Katara. I didn't know. Are you alright?"

Katara wiped her eyes as she turned to her Father.

"Yeah, Dad. I just don't really want to talk about it, I don't want anybody else to know. I want to be able to focus on the ceremony without worrying about everyone talking about my love life."

Hakoda nodded to his daughter, taking her hand in his.

"Whatever you feel is best, sweetie."

She wrapped her hands around the back of Hakoda's neck and pulled in close.

"Thanks Dad."

Sokka was focused on the family moment when he felt Suki squeezing his leg, there was a silence in the conversation as Hakoda made his way back to his seat and this was the redhead's cue for him to change the subject.

"So, uhh... the igloo's bigger than the last time we were here."

This prompted Kanna to go into every minute detail of how Pakku had essentially rebuilt the entire thing to her exact specifications, so that it was the home she'd always dreamed of, even though they moved out less than a month after it was completed. Not that Hakoda had too much to grumble about, it was still the nicest place he'd ever lived.

As their meal was coming to a close, Pakku returned from his classes and greeted the new arrivals. Though the temptation was strong, Sokka had learned not to call the older man "GramPakku" to his face. Pakku took Katara to one side to go through the intricacies of the ritual and making sure she was prepared. Hakoda spoke privately to his son, letting him know that he would be getting up early to go hunting with Bato before the solstice celebrations and that he wanted his son there with him. Though this didn't exactly come as a surprise to Sokka anymore, he had no need to fake any sort of excitement, he was still stoked to get what he'd wanted for so long and it sounded so much more satisfying hearing it from his Dad compared to Katara blurting it out by accident. While she was by herself, Kanna took this opportunity to interrogate Suki about what her roles as a Kyoshi Warrior entailed and how she planned to make a life with Sokka if they spent so long apart from each other, at least she had her grandchildren's best interests at heart.

Much of the rest of the day was spent going around the village for Katara and Sokka to visit either new places that had sprung up or the people and families they hadn't seen since their last stay. It was still difficult for the siblings to believe that this was the same place that they had grown up in, it seemed so alive and at peace compared to what they were used to, with everyone living in fear of the next Fire Nation attack.

When they returned, still full from Kanna's feast, Katara decided to practice her waterbending exercises with Pakku while Suki snuggled up against her boyfriend in front of the roaring fire. Having a big day tomorrow, everyone decided to turn in for an early night, Sokka more insistent than anyone, being that he didn't want to risk sleeping in and missing the hunt with his Dad.

As promised, Suki found that she had been prepared her own bed but she didn't get in it, much preferring to sleep in Sokka's. All her attempts to get closer to him, however, were spurned. The idea of Zuko walking in on them had been bad enough, but risking his Gran-Gran catching them was something else altogether.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


	17. CXVII - Katara's Ceremony

**Water, Fan &amp; Sword**

**All characters are the rightful property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko &amp; Michael Dante DiMartino, Dark Horse Comics and Gene Yang.**

**The following text is in no way affiliated with them and in no way represents their work or values.**

* * *

**_This story will contain spoilers from the ATLA 'The Promise' and 'The Search' comic series_**

* * *

**Chapter XVII - Katara's Ceremony**

When the morning came around, Suki found herself alone under the covers, she must have slept through Sokka getting ready and missed him leaving for the hunt. After dressing herself and leaving Sokka's room, she was met with a sleepy looking Katara sitting down to a breakfast that Kanna was dishing out, while telling the girls that Hakoda and Sokka had gone hunting and that Pakku had left to oversee the final preparations for today's events. Unfortunately for the redhead, this time the seaprunes were unavoidable but it turned out they didn't taste nearly as bad as they looked. Kanna got up and headed off to do something, as she was gone, Suki elected not to cover her mouth as she made loud yawn and finished off the last of her bowl. Katara giggled.

"See, I knew you wouldn't hate them once you tried them."

The Kyoshi Warrior paused and looked down at her empty bowl.

"Huh, yeah. I'm just not used to my food looking so gray and lumpy... anyway, how are you?"

Katara slurped the last of the water out of her bowl, then wiped her mouth and smiled.

"A little nervous, I know I can perform all the parts of the ritual but actually doing it is another thing."

Suki stretched out her arms as she looked her friend in the eye.

"You'll be fine. One little ceremony's nothing compared to what we've been through."

As she spoke, Suki heard footsteps shuffling from Sokka's bedroom and felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Kanna.

"I see you made your bed before you came out for breakfast. That's very thoughtful of you, I wish my grandson was as considerate, his bed's a mess."

Katara held her hands over her mouth to stifle her laughter as Suki felt her cheeks flush red.

"Uh... yeah, sure, it's not a problem."

Following breakfast, Katara headed outside to get some final waterbending practice in and asked Suki to come along with her. She wasn't particularly fond of the idea of facing the elements without her big, red coat but wasn't going to say no to a friend asking for a hand. The Kyoshi Warrior had the hood up on the coat she was borrowing from Katara the moment they were outside. the brunette leading them out of the walls of the village and onto some snowy hills. Katara went through some of the motions that she'd be performing and asked Suki what she thought but, with waterbending not exactly being the redhead's expertise, her opinions weren't all that much use. That wasn't an issue though, the southern girl had another reason for bringing Suki out here.

Katara slumped down onto the snow, looking down on the village and sighed. Sensing something was wrong, Suki walked towards her.

"What's up? Overworked it?"

Katara arched her head back to her friend as she came closer.

"No, it's not that. It's just, there's something I wanted to ask you."

Suki sat down next to the brunette, her voice rang with sarcasm.

"Oh, so you didn't drag be out all this way just to hear my advice on waterbending? Katara, I'm shocked!"

She was a little taken aback. Turns out Katara wasn't as subtle as she thought.

"Was it really that obvious?"

The Kyoshi Warrior started to laugh.

"You weren't listening to a word I said. I was talking about how you should do all your bending naked to be more 'at one with your element' and you kept nodding your head and agreeing with me. Seriously though, what did you want?"

Katara cheeks went a little red from being caught out like that. She started to wave her hand in to snow, making a flat little spread before answering.

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing with Aang? Giving it another chance?"

Suki didn't miss a beat.

"Yeah. I mean, it is what you want, right?"

The waterbender wasn't immediately convinced.

"It's what I want but I don't want to make the same mistakes again."

Suki stretched her arms behined her and leaned back on them.

"Then don't."

Katara's eyes narrowed and she folded her arms, feeling Suki was being curt.

"Gee, thanks for the advice."

Suki spoke, grabbing her friend's attention.

"No, I'm serious. Whatever went wrong the first time, focus on that and make sure it doesn't happen again."

The waterbender threw back her head and sighed, her breath becoming a white mist on the cold air.

"But the problem was that he's always off being the Avatar, there's nothing I can do about that. I wish I was more like you, how do you and Sokka cope being so far apart?"

The Kyoshi Warrior paused, pouted, thinking about her response.

"I guess it just doesn't really bother me."

Katara looked defeated, Suki shook her head and continued.

"No, it's not like I don't miss him but I've got duties. I've got to organize my girls, make sure every entrance is secured, run drills, I just don't have the time to waste wishing Sokka was with me all the time. He's the same, he's always away doing something with you guys or Paindao or The Mechanist or here with his Dad. That's what you need, something to keep you occupied. I'd probably go mad if I was just sat around waiting for Sokka to come back."

Katara lifted her arms and flopped back down onto the snow.

"But I tried that by going to the North Pole and that didn't help at all."

Suki leaned over to her.

"That's different though, you broke up before you went there and that's what was making you unhappy. Once you make up with him and then find something to fill your time, you'll stop worrying so much, and maybe waterbending classes just aren't your thing."

Katara looked a little more at peace when she smiled up at Suki.

"Then what should I be doing?"

The redhead smiled back.

"I can't help you there. Just find something you like and something worthwhile and make the most of it. You've got a lot to offer the world, Katara. You shouldn't feel useless just because you're spending so much time with Aang, he's the Avatar, we all feel a little unimportant next to him but that doesn't mean you can just let your talents go to waste... and if you're really struggling for ideas, I'm sure the Kyoshi Warriors could find uses for a master waterbender."

Katara laughed and thanked Suki when they heard the ice crunching behind them.

"Wha-...What are you two doing out here?"

The girls turned around to find the source of the ragged voice and found a very out-of-breath Sokka trudging to the top the hill, pulling a sled with something big and orangey strapped to it. Katara's eyes went wide.

"Is that a tiger seal?!"

Her brother left the sled behind him as he planted himself down between the girls, he had the goofiest smile on his face.

"Yeah, Bato says he can make jerky out of it and Gran-Gran'll be able to do something with the fur. I managed to catch it just as it was getting away."

A deeper voice called out just as Sokka finished talking, it was unmistakeably Hakoda.

"And it should have been mine. You know I called that ice-hole."

Too tired to turn himself around, Sokka dropped backwards on the snow, smiling, and looking upside-down at his Dad as he reached the top of the hill.

"You were too slow, old man. Did you want me to just let it swim off?"

Hakoda flicked some snow off the end of his boot and it landed on his son's forehead and grumbled.

"No respect for traditions, that's your problem."

As Sokka shook the snow from his head, Bato arrived at the top of the hill, carrying a couple of lifeless arctic hens by their feet and a clacking bag of what the girls assumed must be shellfish. The tall tribesman wrapped his arm around Hakoda's shoulder.

"Now, now. Let's not fall out over this. All in all, it was a very bountiful trip, even if our mighty chief did come home empty handed."

Hakoda complained under his breath as the three teens got to their feet. Sokka turned his head back to the girls as he went back over to the sled.

"So why were you out here?"

Katara peaked between her Dad and Bato to get a better look at Sokka's tiger seal, it was an impressive catch.

"I was just getting some last minute practice in before the ritual and Suki was helping me get it right."

Hakoda stopped mumbling and turned to his daughter.

"Are you all ready for it then?"

The waterbender beamed, looking back at Suki first before smiling to her Father.

"Yeah, I'm good to go."

Katara tried to squirm out of the way but she was too slow as the Chief tussled her hair.

"Atta girl."

The group of five headed back towards Hakoda's home, where Kanna was there waiting for them. Sokka spared his Father's pride more tarnishing by telling the older woman how he would never have caught the tiger seal were it not for his Dad's help. Kanna praised her male descendants for their evident hunting prowess, though she only half listened to the story of the catch. She was already sizing the beast up, wondering if she'd have enough fur left for a new set of gloves and boots after she'd had it turned into a throw for her and Pakku's couch. By the time their catches had been stored in ice and the three huntsmen had gotten themselves cleaned and dressed, it was almost time to leave for the ceremony. Pakku had arrived sometime ago in a huge ornate carraige of deep grayish-blue, trimmed with swirling, silver wave patterns being pulled four, huge, well-groomed arctic camels. None of the locals had ever quite seen anything like it in their tribe, it was undoubtedly a little something Pakku'd had sent South to remind him of home.

Despite its size, the most opulent wagon only had room for six inside. Bato elected to sit up top with the coach driver, Sokka made his move towards the forward facing seats at the back of the carriage when her was apprehended by his grandmother's husband.

"You'll sit on the front seats, the back is reserved for the Chief and his ceremonial waterbenders."

Sokka grumbled but wasn't about to start another argument with another master waterbender, not after what happened with his sister. He took his place near the front of the carriage, the window there much narrower, almost hiding him from the outside world. In an effort to cheer her boyfriend up, Suki sat herself down next to him and gave him a smooch on the cheek. He seemed in better spirits almost immediately, until his grandmother decided that this was no place displays of young love and wedged herself between the couple, putting them both in a huff.

There was a shudder which jerked the passengers forward as the arctic camels took their first steps. Most of the villagers who would be attending would set off later, those out of their homes waved to the carriage as it pulled away, under the arch and out of the village. Once the settlement was well behind them, the coach was surrounded on all sides by strange beauty of the South Pole. Seemingly endless plateaus of pure, still paleness. Blizzards were indistinguishable from mountains, which were indistinguishable from clouds, it was eerie, incredible and fascinating to the Kyoshi Warrior. The siblings also took in the views, though their enjoyment came from the happiness of something familiar, rather than Suki's amazement at something new. Hakoda, Kanna and Pakku were largely unmoved by the scenery, they barely knew anything but the tundra, to them it was simply how the outside always was.

The carriage trudged on passed the port town that the Fire Nation ferry had brought the trio South to, taking the high road through the frosty hills. As gusts of snow bashed on the walls of the wagon, Suki was very happy to be sat on her warm, cushioned seat and not up on the box, where Bato and the driver were sat, she didn't even want to think about how cold it must have been out there. Pakku leaned across his Chief to run through every movement yet again, making sure Katara had everything memorized, Kanna was asking how her granddaughter felt, seeing that she wasn't too nervous for the big event. After a bit too much of their nattering, Hakoda spoke up, telling them both that Katara was clearly fine and had already handled much greater responsibilities than this ceremony. The Chief saw his daughter smile just slightly as she got a moment's peace and turned back to looking out of the window.

The straight walls and peaks of another settlement now loomed ahead of the carriage, it was a larger harbor town, one Sokka and Katara had not visited before. Given its size and importance, it was where many of the administrative departments who governed the South had based themselves during the rebuilding of the Tribe, the influence of their Northern brethren evident in this new centralization of power and population. It also made rather an impressive venue for the ritual, being surrounded by sharp summits on nearly all sides and a large icy island floating just off the coast. This town required no walls as the hills provided it natural barriers against the elements and any would-be invaders. Hakoda was used to it by now but the siblings were shocked that anywhere this vibrant and busy could exist so close to their home. During the war, being this near to the sea had seen the site almost abandoned due to being in close range of any passing Fire Nation ships, now the waters only brought trade, settlers and opportunity.

The nearer they got to the center of town, the more the streets filled. Throngs of people lined the the sides of the road, cheering to the coach as it passed them. Pakku was at home among the pomp, raising his hand and signalling to the crowd outside of his window, Hakoda was far less enthusiastic about being the center of attention but as Chief was used to it by now and waved to his people, Katara seemed a little embarrassed by it all but understood it would have been rude not to greet those that had come out to see them. Sokka couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous, not directly towards his sister but in general, the people didn't come out in droves like this to see him and sat at the front of the carriage, he was largely concealed from them. He slumped back against his seat, catching Katara's attention. In a flash, the sibling's eyes met, she saw how left out he felt, he saw out of place she was feeling, their was a brief, shared smile between them, that understanding allowing them to feel just a little less alone.

They stopped outside a rather impressive construction. The village hall towered over all the other buildings, it was almost a palace made from ice that had become the center of political activity in the Southern Water Tribe, from which Chief Hakoda ruled with the village elders. The coach driver hopped down from the box and opened the carriage door facing the hall, Bato was there to help Kanna down as everybody climbed out from the wagon. The cheering crowd swelled as those watching them ride in piled in from the streets towards the hall, people waving Water Tribe banners, parents lifting their children onto their shoulders. There was a clearing formed from the coach to the hall, which the seven of them walked down. Hakoda and Bato chatted at the front, Kanna and Pakku were hand in hand behind them and at the back, Katara, Sokka and Suki tried to take in all that was happening in their surroundings. It was strange for the siblings, even though they'd been to a few events like this, the crowds were really just for either Aang or Zuko. Suki was more familiar to noisy assemblies thanks to her position on Kyoshi Island but nothing on this magnitude, people had come from all across the South Pole just to be here.

Entering through those huge doors, Katara, Sokka and Suki found the interior of the hall to be just as incredible as the outside. Sturdy ice pillars supporting the ceiling, intricate swirl and wave patterns on every surface, huge Water Tribe symbols inlayed on the walls. The Kyoshi Warrior leaned over to her boyfriend's ear.

"I had no idea Water Tribe architecture could be so... daunting."

Sokka laughed as his eyes scanned the room.

"Neither did I."

The group halted just inside the hall as a woman in decorative dress approached them before bowing deeply.

"Welcome all. Would the ceremonial waterbenders follow me, please. We're putting the final touches in place."

Pakku and Katara stepped forth, she a little more hesitantly than he, and the woman lead them away. A man then came to them, dressed much in the same way as the lady, offering the group refreshments following their journey. They sat in waiting for a good hour, making idle chat and snacking. Suki had never tasted kelp cakes before but they were surprisingly moreish.

After what seemed like an age, the door through which Katara and Pakku had left them opened. The older waterbender stood there in a long, dark, fur robe with black tails dangling from his collar and cuffs. He looked quite intimidating, matching the dramatic garments with a stern expression. He had been extensively groomed, his hair and beard near gleaming in the daylight from the window, every loose strand plucked. As he motioned towards his wife, a vision in white was revealed behind him. Sokka's eyes couldn't move from her, Katara held her hands in front of her as she looked up to see everyone. She'd been dressed in a flowing, lunar white, satin gown, trimmed with pale blue waves. Her hair was perfect, a layer was pulled from her back and sides to drape over her shoulders in two tails and some was bunched in a topknot, all three features held in place by hairpiece, just like the ones Yue used to wear, hand carved from blue shell to resemble the symbol of their tribe. When she smiled at him, with those beautiful blue eyes, he was too stunned for words.

Hakoda was wary of messing up his daughter's hair as she walked towards them all, wanting to pull her into a hug but settling to place a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm so proud of you."

Katara beamed at her Dad's words and went over to her brother and his girlfriend.

"What do you think?"

Sokka just looked at her, trying to mouth things but not finding the sounds he wanted. Suki giggled, bumping into her boyfriend as she cut in.

"You look beautiful, Katara."

Suki's impact seemed to have shaken Sokka from his daydreaming and helped him find some words. The pride he felt for Katara only reminded him of their lost Mother.

"I wish she could see you right now."

Katara's eyes widened, how neat her hair was didn't seem to matter quite so much anymore as she wrapped her arms around her brother for a tight hug. He held her close for a short while before the man and woman from before showed up to tell them that everything was in place for the ceremony to begin, guiding everybody but Katara and Pakku back outside to take their seats.

As the main doors opened, it became clear that the crowds had grown even larger while they'd been waiting indoors. They were shown to the special seating area between the stairs that lead up to the hall and and the huge gathering of people that were now awaiting the ritual. It was mostly elders, spiritual leaders and other very important types who they found themselves in the company of as they took their seats. Sokka and Suki were sat together, Hakoda and Kanna in front of them, Bato elsewhere. Sokka felt the redhead's palm sliding against his and interlocking their fingers, he looked at her and she shot him a devious grin. There were no disruptive grandmothers to interrupt them now as she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

The hall's great doors parted once more as Katara and Pakku made their appearance. There was plenty of excited whooping from the crowd as they got to see the waterbenders in their ceremonial wear for the first time. Following them came a couple of assistants, carrying a large bowl cut from ice and placed it between the waterbenders before taking their places by either side of the door and following them, two elderly looking women who stood at the sides of the assistants. Katara brought both of her hands to about chest hight and to her left, slowly pushing one arm forward before the other followed it, then the first hand came back, sliding over it's counterpart as they began this slow, methodical cycle. Her movements drew the water from the purple skin at her side into a neat stream, which she guided into the bowl. When she was out of water, Pakku then did the same from his own pouch, mixing the water's of the South and North tribes, symbolizing their unity. As soon as the bowl was filled a noise seemed to emanate from the hall itself. Suki hadn't a clue what it was at first, it began deep and guttural, like sheet ice shifting against itself but the grunts were short and intercut rhythmically with high pitched gasps. It took the Kyoshi Warrior the several minutes to realize that the noises were coming from the elderly women by the door, making some kind of singing she had never heard the likes of before.

The assistants stood by the old women and began to bend water they themselves had brought. Their touches were light, turning their water to a mist which phased passed Pakku and Katara and rolled down the great steps before the crowd, setting the stage for the ceremony to begin. In his black, Pakku was La, the ocean spirit. In her white, Katara was the moon spirit, Tui, or more accurately now, Yue. He might not have understood the Spirits too well, but Sokka knew that if she was looking anywhere right now, his lost love would watching here as Katara honored her spirit. The two waterbenders began to circle the bowl, with one arm across their waist and another one holding an open palm out to their counterpart. With a swish of the hand, the two each drew a trickle of water towards themselves, nurturing it with their bending as their liquid stems grew taller and stronger, draining the water in the bowl. The two tendrils began to twist and entwine under Katara and Pakku's manipulation.

In truth, Suki had even less of an idea about the ceremony than her boyfriend. Sokka was at least raised in this culture. The redhead was an outsider, where she came from, the spirits were honored by lighting incense and saying a prayer, this ritual was in every sense foreign to her, the strange noises the old women made, the eery fog that billowed towards her, the serene dance with which Katara and Pakku controlled the spinning double-helix of water between them. Suki couldn't claim to really understand any of the intricacies but she could certainly be awed by the spectacle. The structure of water flowed and turned under the waterbenders' guidance but maintained its core shape. There was almost something lifelike in the water's sway, the Kyoshi Warrior put it down to how it was controlled by people but that didn't prevent her from being captivated by the its undeniably natural motion. The water rippled where it should smooth, smoothed where it should be rippled and caught the light in odd ways that almost caused it to look as though it was glowing, bright flashes of reflection that grabbed the eye. It was, in a word, beautiful. It was other words as well, of course, "elegant", "weird" and "intimidating" being but a few, but beautiful was the one at the forefront of Suki's mind at this time.

Raising her right hand, Katara pointed her fingers to the sky and flicked her wrist, pulling a globule of water from the dancing fluid. Her left hand focused on maintaining the shape of the main, watery mass in front of her as her right held the smaller sphere that was above her head, pulling it, squashing it and spinning it, until it became a little helix of its own, orbiting the elder flume. Pakku did likewise, the two of them creating a small constellation of twists that cycled around the central coils. It was a definite strain on Katara's abilities, not in terms of strength but on her concentration. She was having to bend multiple bodies of water simultaneously, there was no room for her focus to slip. Inevitably, at was at this point that her mind began to flood with thoughts of Aang and every doubt she had whether she would be able to fix the things between them and what she'd do if she couldn't.

A frosty droplet splashed on the tip of Katara's nose, sharpening her attention. No, none of that stuff mattered right now, not when she had this ceremony to see through. The mist might be cold, the dress might be tight and the forms might be difficult but she was going to do this thing as well as she could. Katara glanced briefly at the watching crowd and her eyes immediately found Sokka and Suki, smiling proudly, the pressure lifted. Katara knew that whatever happened with Aang, it wouldn't be the end of the world, because what she would always have would be them, her friends and her family.

Her mind clear, her heart full, her movements flawless. Katara bent the water.

* * *

**Thank you for reading.**

**All comments are welcome.**


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